Formerly stranded NASA astronauts Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore reflected on their extended stay in space and noted their “respect and trust” for President Donald Trump and Elon Musk in their first interviews since returning to Earth.
After being unexpectedly stuck on the International Space Station for nine months after their return flight went awry, the pair landed on Earth earlier this month on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft alongside Crew-9 mission members Nick Hague and Russian Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Their stay was nine months longer than expected after technical issues forced their first return craft made by Boeing to leave without them.
In an interview with Fox News, the astronauts praised the president and the Space X founder for their safe return. "I respect you, I trust you. You’ve given me no reason not to trust you, either one of them," Wilmore said.
"I am grateful that our national leaders actually are coming in and taking part in our human spaceflight program, which we see is hugely important global significance, and they take an active role,” he continued. “I think it's a good thing for our nation when the national leaders, especially something that's high visibility, are involved in the process. I'm grateful for that."
Williams similarly said that she was touched that so many people were paying attention and taking their journey “very seriously.”
"[It allows them to] understand that our involvement as a country, as a spacefaring nation, is really important throughout the world. It sets an example, and it shows our ability to be able to do the hard things, put people in space, operate in space, work in space, and then bring us back. It's important, and I appreciate that," she said.
In January, Trump blamed Joe Biden for “abandoning” the astronauts in space while Musk, a White House senior adviser, said it was “terrible” his administration “left them there so long.” Neither astronaut blamed the Biden administration for their extended stay.
Instead, when asked who they hold accountable, Wilmore said first pointed the finger at himself. “I’ll start with me. There were questions as a commander that I should have asked,” he said at a Monday press conference. “Responsibility with Boeing? Yes. Responsibility with NASA? Yes…We all own this.”
He said there’s much to learn from this incident: “We’re going to look forward.”
As far as U.S. politics reach, they don’t seem to extend to outer space, the astronauts said.
“When we’re in there operating in space, you don’t feel the politics…We’re focused just on the mission,” Hague said. “You get in that operational environment and the politics — they don’t make it up there. We are working as part of an international team…and we just figure out how to make it happen. That’s the magic of human space flight: we focus on something so positive that pulls people together.”
Wilmore and Williams were both asked if they would go up again in the Starliner, Wilmore immediately replied: “yes.”
“Because we’re going to rectify all the issues we’ve encountered,” he said. “I would get on in a heartbeat.”
Williams agreed, saying: “There are a couple of things that need to be fixed…but it’s a great spacecraft and it has a lot of capability that other spacecraft don’t have and to see that be successful and be part of that program is an honor.”
Although being left behind in space sounds like a nightmare to some, the astronauts spoke positively about their time at the space station and are looking forward to seeing what comes next for the industry.
“We had a plan. The plan went way off from what we had planned. We planned for any number of contingencies…We pivoted to this other preparation and that’s what makes your human space flight program special,” Wilmore said.
“There’s lessons learned,” Williams noted. “We’re learning from every mistake potentially and every decision made and how we can do that better next time.”
“I’m a little envious of the guys behind us,” she said later. “I’m not worried about the aerospace industry. There’s a lot going on and it’s a great time to be in it.”
Wilmore said they’re meeting with Boeing engineers this week to discuss their experience.
The astronauts also discussed their descent back to earth, splashing down off the coast of Florida where they were unexpectedly first greeted by dolphins.
“Returning from space to Earth through the atmosphere inside a 3,000-degree fireball of plasma is weird,” Wilmore said. “It’s a thrilling ride like no other you can imagine.”
“I had requested dolphins as a joke,” Hague quipped. “Somehow somebody pulled it off.”
