Two US astronauts who’ve been caught for months on the International Space Station (ISS) mentioned Wednesday they’ve loads of meals, usually are not dealing with a laundry disaster, and do not but really feel like castaways.
Veteran astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived on the ISS in June aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, and have been because of spend solely eight days on the orbiting laboratory.
But issues with the Starliner’s propulsion system prompted NASA to vary plans, with a return flight now scheduled for late March on the earliest.
Williams mentioned spirits have been nonetheless excessive regardless of the unexpectedly lengthy keep in house.
“It’s simply been a pleasure to be working up right here,” he mentioned throughout a name with NASA officers.
“It would not really feel like we’re solid away,” he added. “Eventually we need to go house, as a result of we left our households a short while in the past however we’ve got lots to do whereas we’re up right here.”
Wilmore chuckled whereas providing reassurance about meals provide.
“We are effectively fed,” he mentioned.
Laundry necessities are additionally not akin to Earth, he defined.
“Clothes match loosely up right here. It’s not like on Earth the place you sweat and it will get dangerous. I imply, they match loosely. So you may put on issues actually, for weeks at a time, and it would not trouble you in any respect,” he mentioned.
After the propulsion issues developed, NASA finally determined to return the spacecraft to Earth with out its crew, and to carry the 2 stranded astronauts again house with the members of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission.
Crew-9’s two astronauts arrived on the ISS aboard a Dragon spacecraft in late September, with two empty seats for Wilmore and Williams. The plan was for all 4 to return house in February 2025.
But the return was postponed final month when NASA introduced that Crew-10, which might relieve Crew-9 and the stranded pair, would now launch no sooner than March 2025, and each groups would stay on board for a “handover interval.”
According to these timelines, Wilmore and Williams are scheduled to spend greater than 9 months in house.
“When we get house, we’ll have a lot of tales to inform,” Williams mentioned.
