Cape Canaveral: NASA's two trapped astronauts are only a few weeks away from returning to Earth after nine months in space. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams must wait until their replacements arrive at the International Space Station next week before they may go later this month.
They'll be joined on their SpaceX voyage home by two astronauts who launched independently in September, as well as two vacant seats. During a news conference Tuesday, Wilmore stated that, while politics is a part of life, it had no bearing on his and Williams' return, which was pushed up a few weeks due to a change in SpaceX capsules.
Blaming the previous government, President Donald Trump and Elon Musk of SpaceX announced at the end of January that they wished to expedite the astronauts' return.
In response to a query, however, Williams did criticise Musk's recent proposal to abandon the space station in two years instead of waiting for NASA's anticipated deorbit in 2031. She mentioned all scientific studies being conducted at the orbiting laboratory, AP reported.
“This place is ticking. It's just really amazing, so I would say we're actually in our prime right now,” said Williams, a three-time space station resident. “I would think that right now is probably not the right time to say quit, call it quits.”
Williams expressed her excitement over seeing her Labrador retrievers again. The wait by their families back home was the hardest part of the unexpected extended stay, she said
“It’s been a roller coaster for them, probably a little bit more so than for us," she said. “We're here. We have a mission. We're just doing what we do every day, and every day is interesting because we're up in space and it's a lot of fun.”
When Wilmore and Williams launched last June on Boeing's new Starliner capsule, which made its crew debut after years of delay, they were only supposed to be gone for a week or so.
NASA determined that the Starliner was too unsafe to carry people due to its numerous issues en route to the space station, and it returned empty. The additional time required to complete the brand-new SpaceX capsule that was meant to deliver their replacements further postponed their homecoming.
NASA said last month that liftoff would now take place on March 12 and that the next crew will instead launch in a used spacecraft. Before Wilmore and Williams leave with NASA's Nick Hague and the Russian Space Agency's Alexander Gorbunov, the two crews will spend around a week together on the space station.
Wilmore and Williams, retired Navy captains and repeat space pilots, have stated for months that they are healthy and devoted to the mission for as long as necessary. They had a spacewalk together in January.
Because their return journey in a Dragon capsule was unexpected, they will wear basic SpaceX flight suits rather than custom-made garments with their names. That is alright with them, though Wilmore stated that he may use a pen to write his name on his suit.
“We’re just Butch and Suni," Williams said. “Everybody knows who we are by now.”