Two NASA astronauts are in space weeks longer than expected as Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft continues to undergo repairs.
But the interstellar duo, flight commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and pilot Sunita “Suni” Williams, managed to stay positive, according to a press conference on Wednesday.
“We’re having a great time here on the ISS,” Williams said Wednesday. “Butch and I have been up here before and it feels like coming home. It feels good to be floating around, it feels good to be in space and working up here with the International Space Station team. It’s great to be up here, so I’m not complaining, Butch isn’t complaining that we’re here a few more weeks.”
After years of technical difficulties during its development, the Starliner left the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on June 5.
“The launch was spectacular. I mean, really amazing,” Wilmore said Wednesday. “The spacecraft performed incredibly well.”
The trip was originally supposed to be a week-long test run of the new spacecraft, but according to NPR, Wilmore and Williams have been on the International Space Station since June 6 to troubleshoot helium leaks and other problems.
Despite these issues, Boeing previously told HuffPost that the spacecraft “has never been ‘stuck’ or ‘stranded’ on the ISS,” adding that it was cleared to return in an emergency.
“We’ve done a lot of simulations … and I think where we are now … if there was a problem with the International Space Station, we could get on our spacecraft, undock, talk to our team and figure out the best way to get home,” Williams said Wednesday.
Wilmore also said he was “confident” that Starliner could bring them home.
A specific date for the return has not yet been planned. However, Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program Manager, said at the press conference on Wednesday that they hope to bring Wilmore and Williams home by August, at which time other astronauts will arrive at the ISS.
“That’s kind of the back end. I think we’re really working on tracking the data and figuring out the earliest we can undock and land,” Stich said. “Some of the data is optimistically suggesting it might be late July, but we’re just following the data.”
