Spaceflight Astronauts stranded on the ISS would take off again
US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) due to a technical problem, have spoken to journalists about their experiences for the first time since returning to Earth.
01.04.2025, 01:11
01.04.2025, 01:12
SDA
Wilmore and Williams said at a press conference held by the US space agency Nasa in Houston on Monday (local time) that they would both be taking off again on a Starliner spacecraft from the US aerospace company Boeing. "We're going to make it work," Wilmore said. He and Suni Williams, two former Navy pilots and experienced astronauts, flew to the ISS last June in a Starliner spacecraft from the US aerospace company Boeing and were originally only supposed to stay in space for eight days. However, due to a technical problem with the Starliner, it returned to Earth without them. Since then, the two astronauts have been stuck on the ISS waiting for a return flight opportunity.
Musk's SpaceX brought the astronauts back to Earth
In mid-March, the four-person crew arrived on the ISS. NASA had entrusted the return of the astronauts to the SpaceX company run by presidential advisor Elon Musk. Wilmore went on to say that everyone was responsible for the problems that occurred during this manned maiden flight. He now wanted to look to the future. Suni Williams expressed similar confidence. The teams are actively working on the few things that still need to be corrected, said the astronaut.
Despite the media attention that the two astronauts had received, not least because of comments made by US President Donald Trump, they assured that they had survived their involuntarily extended stay well. They had been prepared for such imponderables, they both emphasized. "I am very grateful for people's attention," said Suni Williams. She hopes that her experience will help younger people in particular. "You know, sometimes you have to get your act together to make the best of it," she said.
Trump accused Biden of failure
Trump and Musk had presented the return of the two astronauts, which had been planned for months, as a rescue mission and had previously accused the previous administration of President Joe Biden of abandoning the two astronauts for "political reasons" and rejecting plans for an earlier return.
