Astronaut Sunita Williams was only supposed to spend eight days in space, and today, nearly eight months later, she and fellow astronaut Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore are still stranded in space.
The two NASA astronauts headed towards the International Space Station on June 5, 2024. However, due to helium leaks and other malfunctions of the Boeing Starliner capsule, the pair wasn’t able to return back to Earth.
While the capsule returned home empty, it left NASA struggling to find a way to get Williams and Wilmore back.
The date of their possible journey home has been rescheduled several times during the past months, and according to the ISS, it is not expected to take place until late March.
President Donald Trump accused Biden’s administration for abandoning the two astronauts and called Elon Musk and SpaceX to “go get them.”
“Elon will soon be on his way. Hopefully, all will be safe,” Trump said. “Good luck Elon!!!”
Musk took to X to answer that he will do so.
NASA decided that Starliner was unfit to return Williams and Wilmore home and tasked SpaceX to do the job instead. In fact, the SpaceX’s Crew-9 capsule is docked on the ISS. In late March, it is expected the Crew-10 capsule to be launched to the ISS before Crew-9 can leave it.
Recently, astronaut Williams was interviewed by the students at Needham High School, the same school she graduated from back in 1983.
Answering a question from the ISS, she explained that microgravity felt like she was swimming or flying.
“I’ve been up here long enough right now I’ve been trying to remember what it’s like to walk. I haven’t walked. I haven’t sat down.” Williams added: I haven’t laid down. You don’t have to. You can just close your eyes and float where you are right here.”
Further, she added that she and fellow astronaut Wilmore did expect their space trip to be longer that the planned eight days, but they didn’t believe it would take this long.
“It was a little bit of a shock, actually,” she shared with the students. “We knew that it would be probably a month or so, honestly. But the extended stay was just a little bit different.”
Williams is glad she gets to share her experience with everyone on Earth, but naturally, she’s eager to return home.
“My mother’s getting a little bit older, so in that regard, I just try to stay in touch with them and those guys as much as possible,” she said. “I think I talk to my mom practically every day. Just check in with her and call her and see how she’s doing. So it’s just a little bit different relationship than we had potentially planned on for the last couple of months. But we’re managing.”
Back in November, Williams addressed the rumors that she has lost significant amount of weight, telling New England Sports Network Clubhouse that she weights as she did when she embarked on the space trip, explaining that she and Wilmore have a treadmill and weightlifting equipment.
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