One of the astronauts who was stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) has said some of the blame for what went wrong lies with him.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams splashed down off the coast of Florida earlier this month after more than nine months onboard the ISS.
The two astronauts docked at the ISS on 5 June last year, expecting to be there for just eight days.
Instead, issues with Boeing’s long-awaited Starliner meant NASA decided to leave them waiting in orbit for months.
Splashdown! Butch and Suni’s space saga is over
Wilmore: ‘Start with me’ for blame
Mr Wilmore was asked at a NASA news conference on Monday evening where he lays the blame for the issues with Starliner, to which he said, “I’ll start with me”.
“There were issues, of course, with what happened with Starliner,” he added. “There were some issues, of course, that happened that prevented us from returning on Starliner.
“And I’ll start with me because there were questions that, as the commander of the spacecraft that I should have asked. And I did not, I didn’t know I needed to…
“Blame, that’s a term – I don’t like that term – certainly there’s responsibility throughout all the programmes, and certainly you can start with me.”
He then added that responsibility for the issues with returning home can be found “all throughout the chain”, including with NASA and Boeing.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Pic: NASA Johnson
Williams: ‘Life goes on up there’
Ms Williams also said she was somewhat surprised by the interest in their prolonged space mission.
“Life goes on up there. I mentioned today that we pivoted and became [ISS] crew members,” she said. “You maybe sort of get tunnel visioned into doing your job.
“We were just really focused on what we were doing… ‘the world doesn’t revolve around us but we revolve around it’.”
Ms Williams then said: “I don’t think we were aware to the degree [people were interested], pretty honoured and humbled by the fact of when we came home, it was like ‘wow there are a lot of people’.”
During their long wait in space, the two US navy veterans completed spacewalks, experiments and even helped sort out the plumbing onboard the ISS.
Stuck astronaut takes first spacewalk
Sky’s science and technology editor Tom Clarke asked the astronauts if the politics around their stay in the ISS made a difficult situation worse. Nick Hague – who also was onboard the Crew-9 flight – disagreed.
After explaining the timeline from the launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 to the return of the two astronauts, he said: “That was never in question the entire time.
“The politics don’t make it up there when we’re making operational decisions. There were a lot of options that were discussed, and the team on the ground… is gigantic, and everyone was working with a singular focus.”
Read more:
Stranded astronauts have just returned to a very different world
Nick Hague (left) said political changes in the US did not effect the mission. Pic: NASA
Astronauts more guarded answers show NASA giving politics a wide berth
The life of an astronaut is all about preparation.
And as Butch and Suni faced questions for the first back on Earth time about how their “stranding” in space was treated like an orbital political football – that really shone through.
The astronauts looked healthy and relaxed, despite having spent 35 times longer in space than they had expected to.
They were happy to answer questions about their safe return, the effects of their extended stay in space on their bodies.
But when it came to politics, the answers were much more guarded.
When I asked them about whether politics had made their difficult situation worse, it was quickly picked up, not by the pair themselves, but by astronaut Nick Hague, their mission commander for the ride back to Earth.
“The politics don’t make it up there when we’re making operational decisions,” he said.
“There were a lot of options discussed by the ground team, and everyone worked with singular focus on how do we end the Crew 9 mission at the right time and maintain the safety and the success of the space station mission.”
Their reluctance to address the political questions around the mission is understandable.
They have returned to a NASA bracing itself, like many federally funded organisations, for possible budget cuts and the mercurial decision-making of Donald Trump and his close ally Elon Musk.
Both men had suggested it was a political decision by the previous administration not to return them to Earth sooner.
Painting their already scheduled return as a “rescue mission” – despite presenting no evidence of the claim it put NASA in an embarrassing position.
It has been maintained all along that the plan was for the pair to return to Earth with the next rotation of the space station crew. Which is what subsequently happened.
But in the current political climate, and still awaiting the confirmation of a new leader for NASA’s administration, it’s giving politics a wide berth.
The crew were also asked about how weird it was to return to Earth in the SpaceX capsule – and about the welcome party of dolphins that swam around the vessel after splashdown.
“I can tell you that returning from space to Earth through the atmosphere inside of a 3000-degree fireball of plasma is weird, regardless of how you look at it,” Mr Wilmore said.
“It’s thrilling, it’s amazing, I remember thinking about the structure of the capsule,” as the Dragon Freedom capsule descended at pace toward our planet.
“And then the parachutes open and… it’s exhilarating.”
Mr Hague then remarked, “I had requested dolphins as kind of a joke”.
Dolphins greet returning astronauts
