(NEXSTAR) – NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams held their first question-and-answer session with reporters since returning to Earth on March 18.
The pair, who spent more than nine months aboard the International Space Station after issues with their return flight, said they were taken aback by all the interest and insisted they were only doing their job and putting the mission ahead of themselves and even their families.
Wilmore didn't shy from accepting some of the blame for Boeing's bungled test flight.
“I’ll start and point the finger and I’ll blame me. I could have asked some questions and the answers to those questions could have turned the tide,” he told reporters. “All the way up and down the chain. We all are responsible. We all own this.”
Wilmore and Williams blasted into orbit in June 2024, as part of a test flight of Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule. They were scheduled to return about eight days later, but problems plagued the mission and NASA ultimately decided to bring the Starliner home, leaving Wilmore and Williams on the International Space Station.
“Spaceflight is risky, even at its safest and most routine,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in August 2024. “A test flight, by nature, is neither safe, nor routine. The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring Boeing’s Starliner home uncrewed is the result of our commitment to safety: our core value and our North Star.”
NASA eventually tasked SpaceX with the astronauts’ return trip, initially scheduling their homecoming for February 2025. Issues with the SpaceX capsule caused further delays into March, when a relief crew was sent to the ISS and Wilmore and Williams ultimately returned to Earth.
Despite the ordeal, both astronauts said they would strap into Starliner again. “Because we're going to rectify all the issues that we encountered. We're going to fix it. We're going to make it work,” Wilmore said.
Williams noted that Starliner has “a lot of capability” and she wants to see it succeed.
NASA said engineers still do not understand why Starliner’s thrusters malfunctioned; more tests are planned through the summer. If engineers can figure out the thruster and leak issues, “Starliner is ready to go," Wilmore said.
The space agency may require another test flight — with cargo — before allowing astronauts to climb aboard. That redo could come by year's end.
Wilmore and Williams' plight captured the world’s attention, giving new meaning to the phrase “stuck at work" and turning “Butch and Suni” into household names. While other astronauts had logged longer spaceflights over the decades, none had to deal with so much uncertainty or see the length of their mission expand by so much.
Wilmore and Williams ended up spending 286 days in space — 278 days longer than anticipated when they launched. They circled Earth 4,576 times and traveled 121 million miles (195 million kilometers) by the time of splashdown.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.