When the astronauts her NASASuni Williams and Butch Wilmore approached the International Space Station (ISS) in the summer of 2024 with problematic promoters in the Boeing Starliner capsule, they did not know if they could return to Earth.
“The attachment was imperative,” Wilmore told the BBC two months after their successful return to Earth. “If we didn’t do it we didn’t know if we could go back. We didn’t know it. “
Astronauts traveled to a test flight that was going to take eight days. Instead, ended up staying in space for nearly 9 months.
The first challenge was to secure them safely and successfully to the ISS, something they managed to do in a matter of minutes.
Wilmore said that The possibility that they will never see the earth again “definitely passed through our minds”.
However, both astronauts stated that They did not express the worst scenarios at those times because they were trained to solve the problems.
“You’re reading each other’s thinking somehow and you know where we’re going with all these failures,” Williams told the BBC.
“These were not expected,” he admitted, “at the same time, you know, we think, what do we have? What can we do? “
‘No one left us’
The couple’s adventure started in June 2024. They participated in the first manned test flight of the Starliner spacecraft, developed by the Boeing aerospace company.
After months of experiments at the space station, The two astronauts finally returned to Earth on March 18th.
“We knew that no one would abandon us ... We knew that all of us supported us and took care of us, “said Williams
After two months back to Earth, both astronauts declare that are in good physical and health, Since the exercises they did in the zero gravity environment have yielded fruit.
The 62 -year -old astronaut said he did squats and deadlifts “every day for almost 10 months”, which means he returned to Earth “Literally stronger than I was ever in my life.”
The 59 -year -old Williams agreed – she went for a run a few days after landing on Earth and ran a whole marathon in space in a hallway – but said it was not always easy to adapt again.
From their return, The two work with NASA and Boeing to solve problems with the defective spacecraft that transported them to space last summer.
“We are very optimistic that there will be opportunities to fly with Boeing Starliner in the future,” Wilmore said.
Both astronauts said they would fly again by boat as soon as the technical problems were resolved.
“It’s a very capable spacecraft,” Williams said. “It has unique potential compared to other spacecraft that exist and is really great for future astronauts.”