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Originally intended as an eight-day mission, Williams and her fellow Crew-9 astronaut Butch Wilmore’s stay aboard the ISS was unexpectedly delayed to eight months
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams (File image)
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams opened up on Monday about her extended stay at the International Space Station (ISS), saying that there is nobody to blame and noting that a few issues with the spacecraft need to be resolved.
Originally intended as an eight-day mission, Williams and her fellow Crew-9 astronaut Butch Wilmore’s stay was unexpectedly delayed to eight months due to technical issues with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they launched on June 5, 2024.
“The spacecraft is capable of space programmes. It’s a great spacecraft and has a lot of capabilities that others don’t have. There are a couple of things that need to be fixed and our folks are actively working on that,” she said.
Adding to the statement, Wilmore said, “We all are responsible. We need to look forward, cannot sit and blame anybody. We are going to rectify the issues.”
The duo splashed down off the Florida coast on March 18 aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, nine months after being stranded in space.
Williams, who was joined by fellow Crew-9 astronauts Nick Hague and Butch Wilmore during the post-flight press briefing hosted by NASA, further shared her insights on their historic journey to space.
“We weren’t aware of what was going on down there on Earth. The world does not revolve around us but (actually) we were revolving around the world,” Williams said.
She further added that up there in space she and her colleague Butch Wilmore were focused on the job at hand in a “tunnel vision” mode.
Williams further added that she was “honoured” that people were paying attention. “I am very thankful for people paying attention. It is good for space exploration,” she said.
I want to say thanks, SpaceX really got us ready to go”, she further added.
Their extended mission marks the sixth-longest spaceflight by a US astronaut. However, the record is still held by Frank Rubio, who spent 371 days in orbit after a coolant leak in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft led to an unexpected extension of his mission. He eventually returned to Earth in September 2023 aboard a replacement Soyuz.
