Boeing Starliner Astronaut: ‘We’re Out of Time’

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The two NASA astronauts who piloted the first crewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft — and who were left behind at the space station as the stranded spacecraft returned to Earth — took questions on Friday for the first time in weeks.

Butch Wilmore, a Tennessee native and former Navy test pilot, said during the conversation that he and crewmate Sonny Williams were “very fortunate” to be able to stay on the International Space Station for a few more months and return home with a backup option: a ride on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft.

“There have been many cases in the past where there were no other options,” Wilmore said.

However, he added that he believes the astronauts and the NASA and Boeing teams on the ground might eventually have reached a consensus in their analysis of the Starliner issues if they had been given more time.

“I think the data could have gotten there. We could have gotten to the point where we could have gotten back on the Starliner. But we just ran out of time,” he said.

Time constraints are a fact of life aboard the International Space Station, which maintains a busy schedule as visiting spacecraft drop off rotating crews of astronauts and cargo ships, Wilmore added.

Before returning an empty Starliner to Earth on September 7, NASA noticed the need to free up the docking port where the spacecraft was attached to make room for other vehicles.

During an August 24 press conference, NASA officials also noted that Boeing disagrees with some of the space agency’s risk assessments.

“There was a little disagreement (between NASA and Boeing) about the level of risk,” said Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager. “It just depends on how you assess the risk. … We did it a little differently with our crew than Boeing did.”

The Starliner spacecraft, which suffered a series of helium leaks and propulsion problems on its way to the International Space Station in June, managed to return to Earth without any major problems — though officials reported an additional problem with one of the spacecraft’s thrusters, or small engines used to keep the craft pointed in space. But the problem didn’t affect the overall landing.

“I was so happy that it came back to Earth without any problems,” Williams said Friday of Starliner’s return. “The whole crew woke up at 3 a.m. and we were watching it on our iPads as it landed.”

Williams added that the teams on the ground and in space “made the right decisions,” saying, “It’s risky, that’s the way things work.”

Williams and Wilmore launched aboard Starliner in early June, expecting to spend just eight days aboard the orbiting laboratory. They will now return to Earth on a SpaceX mission scheduled to return in 2025.

Asked if he was having difficulty adjusting to the prospect of waiting months longer to return home, Wilmore said Friday: “I wouldn’t bother with that. I mean, there’s no point in that at all. So my transition was — it might not have been immediate — but it was pretty close.”

Williams said she missed her family and pets, and told CNN’s Kristen Fisher she was disappointed she wouldn’t be able to attend some family events this fall and winter, but added: “This is my happy place. I love being here in space. It’s fun. You know, every day you do something that requires work, you can do it upside down. You can do it sideways, so it adds a little bit of a different perspective.”

Wilmore said he and Williams will be involved in discussions with NASA and Boeing about what needs to change to get the Starliner spacecraft back on track.

“Obviously when you have issues like we had, there are some changes that need to be made. And Boeing is ready for that. We are all ready for that,” Wilmore said.

The crewed Starliner test flight was intended to “push the envelope… When you do things that have never been done before with a spacecraft, like Starliner, you’re going to find some things,” he added. “In this case, we found some things that we wouldn’t have been comfortable putting back in Starliner.”