Some would call it a nightmare and some would call it a dream. Two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, have been stuck in space on the International Space Station (ISS) since June 5, 2024. Due to malfunctions with the Boeing Starliner capsule, which returned to earth on September 6, the two astronauts are to be stuck in space until February, 2025.
Leaving the duo behind on the ISS, the Starliner capsule undocked from the station, ready to make its return to Earth. Regardless of NASA’s concerns about the multiple helium leaks in the ship’s propulsion pressurization system, the capsule made a safe, unpiloted return to Earth touching down in New Mexico and marking the end of the unsuccessful test flight. As the first test pilots of the Starliner capsule, Wilmore and Williams weren’t surprised when their eight-day test mission to space turned into months.
“We’re not surprised when deployments get changed,” Williams said in an interview with Channel Five Boston. Both have served in the Navy and are used to taking extended leaves. Wilmore and Williams are among nine astronauts aboard the ISS. Welcomed earlier last week was the Soyuz spacecraft carrying two Russians and one American astronaut making the total number of astronauts on the ISS, twelve.
“I’m sure they were both happy and sad about it. I highly recommend anyone who hasn’t to check out the live feed of the ISS on YouTube. It is amazing to see it in real time,” Mr. Michael Jacobetz, a music teacher at THS, said. “I would also recommend checking out Sunni Williams’ video on the Tour of the ISS. She has close to the most number of hours spent on the ISS ever. She takes you through what it is like to be up there, shows you all the facilities and explains in great detail.”
Astronauts like Wilmore and Williams spend their entire lives dreaming and preparing for the moment they lift off into space. However, family has to be left behind at times. Wilmore will be missing his daughter’s last year of high school while Williams will miss spending valuable time with her mother.
“I would not handle it well. These astronauts are very strong mentally,” Itay Moran (’25) said. “This situation feels like something you would watch in a sci-fi horror movie.”
Though this might be a terrifying situation for others, Wilmore and Williams are thrilled to spend their extra time on the ISS doing station research, maintenance, and Starliner system and data analysis, NASA said in a live news conference on August 24.
The astronauts are expected to return safely to Earth in February on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, the first private spacecraft to ever take humans to the ISS.
