NASA’s Wilmore, Williams To Work With Boeing On Starliner Issues

HOUSTON—Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams say they continue to embrace the unexpected and are committed to working with Boeing and NASA to help remedy the issues that led to their lengthy and unforeseen mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The astronauts are continuing to acclimate themselves to life back on Earth after propulsion problems with the Boeing CST-100 Starliner Crew Flight Test (CFT) vehicle led to their more than nine-month stay on the ISS. Their mission was originally supposed to last for only a little more than a week.

Wilmore, Williams, and NASA astronaut Nick Hague, who commanded the SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon mission that brought them safely back to Earth, spoke at a March 31 post-landing news briefing at NASA Johnson Space Center. They commended the cooperation within NASA’s administration, commercial crew and ISS programs for working to both return them safely and also merge the two CFT flyers into months of productive scientific research aboard the seven-person orbital lab.

Among the first questions asked during the briefing was who Wilmore and Williams thought was to blame for what happened with the mission, which was launched on June 5, 2024. It was initially envisioned to last about eight days, but turned into 286 days and ended with their March 18 splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast near Tallahassee.

“I will start with me,” said Wilmore, who served as the Starliner CFT commander. “There are questions as commander of the spacecraft I should have asked and I did not. Maybe you can call that hindsight, but I will start somewhere by blaming me. I should have asked some questions, and the answers to those questions could have turned the tide.

“All up and down the chain, we [are] all responsible,” he added. Wilmore noted that he and Williams have adjusted enough to life back on Earth that they plan to begin meeting with Boeing about their flight experience on April 2.

As the Starliner performance difficulties began to surface after launch, the two astronauts were able to work with flight control teams to successfully dock to the ISS and contribute to the troubleshooting. Eventually NASA decided to address the risks that could emerge upon a return to Earth by deorbiting the Starliner uncrewed for a parachute-assisted decent to Earth in New Mexico in early September. That left Wilmore and Williams on the ISS.

The astronauts’ stay was extended to keep the orbital lab as functional as possible and to address the risks to the CFT crew.

“We are not going to look back and say this happened, that happened, that person is to blame,” Wilmore said. “We are going to look forward and say what do we need to do, what are the lessons learned over the whole process and make sure that we are set for the future. This is a tough business. We are going forward.”

Both Williams and Wilmore said they would be willing to launch aboard a future Starliner mission.                   .

“I’m very thankful,” said Williams, who focused on the value of the research to which they contributed aboard the ISS. She said it furthered efforts by NASA and its international and commercial partners to prepare for future human deep space exploration at the Moon, Mars and beyond.

The daily exercise sessions, both aerobic and resistive, in which they participated in have helped them become reaccustomed to gravity, she explained.

“It goes with space exploration. That is what we are all about,” Williams said of the unexpected. “What we do up there is really awesome.”

While aware of some of the political speculation behind his crewmates’ lengthy mission, Hague said the multinational ISS crew knew to put that aside and carry on.

“It’s dynamic. It’s challenging. We find a way to make it work” he stressed.

Wilmore and Williams were selected by NASA for astronaut training as U.S. Navy officers and aviators. Both have combat and test pilot experience, Wilmore in 2000 and Williams in 1998.

Wilmore has now logged 464 days in space and made five career spacewalks. He took part in a 2009 space shuttle ISS assembly mission, was a 2014-15 ISS crewmember and served as commander of the extended Boeing CST-100 Starliner CFT mission. He participated in ISS science and technology activities as well as maintenance of the orbital lab.

Williams has now logged 608 days in space and eight spacewalks as an ISS crew member in 2006/2007 and 2012 as the extended Starliner CFT mission on which she also contributed to ISS science and technology as well as maintenance.

Hague was selected by NASA for astronaut training in 2013 while a U.S. Air Force officer and pilot. He has logged 374 days in space and made four spacewalks over two missions to the ISS in 2019. He served as the Crew-9 commander that launched on Sept. 28 for the ISS Expedition 71/72 missions with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunow and two empty seats aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule to return Wilmore and Williams to Earth.

The longest NASA astronaut mission was flown by Frank Rubio, who returned to Earth after a 371-day mission to the ISS on Sept. 27, 2023.

Five NASA astronauts have flown longer missions to the ISS than that just concluded by Wilmore and Williams.