Stranded Astronauts Make First Public Comments Since Boeing Capsule Left Without Them

TIME

Stuck-in-space astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams said Friday it was hard to watch their Boeing capsule return to Earth without them.

Transcript

00:00It's been quite an evolution over the last three months.

00:03We've been involved from the beginning through all the processes of assessing our spacecraft Calypso.

00:10And it was trying at times.

00:13There were some tough times all the way through.

00:16You certainly, as the commander and the PLT of your spacecraft,

00:19you don't want to see it go off without you.

00:22But that's where we wound up.

00:23And through all the process, most of the news we heard,

00:26as we would hear things over the news waves and the different means that we have to get information up here,

00:31that 80% of the time you'd hear Sonny and Butch, Butch and Sonny, Sonny and Butch, Butch and Sonny.

00:37And I just want everybody to know how much we appreciate that.

00:40We're excited to fly in two different spacecraft.

00:42I mean, we're testers. That's what we do.

00:45We look at different aircraft, spacecraft, whatever, evaluate it.

00:50And that's a pretty unique opportunity.

00:53I think, like you know, this was not the very first option.

00:56We wanted to take Starliner to the completion and land it back on land at home.

01:00But, you know, you have to turn the page and look at the next opportunity

01:04and, you know, do good for the agency and the country.

01:07And we'll come back with some evaluations of both spacecraft.

01:10And I think we're pretty fortunate for that.

01:12We could have gotten to the point, I believe, where we could have returned on Starliner.

01:16But we just simply ran out of time because there's other tests that need to be done,

01:21other assessments that need to be done.

01:23And had we had a little more time, then we could have done it.

01:26I sent down my request for a ballot today, as a matter of fact.

01:31And they should get it to us in a couple of weeks.

01:33And absolutely, yes, it's a very important role that we all play as citizens

01:37is to be included in those elections.

01:39And NASA makes it very easy for us to do that.

01:41So we're excited about that opportunity.

01:43You asked what we miss, right?

01:44Of course, you know, the things that we always miss are families.

01:47I miss my two dogs. I miss my friends.

01:49But you know what?

01:50Like Butch said, there are so many people on Earth that are sending us messages,

01:54and it makes you feel just right at home with everybody

01:57when we're able to have those conversations with our friends and family at home.

02:01So I know they understand.

02:02I know it's tough on them as well as being away from home, of course.

02:06But everybody understands, and everybody's cheering for us to get back with Crew 9.

02:11This is my happy place.

02:12I love being up here in space.

02:15It's just fun.

02:16You know, every day you do something that's work, quote, unquote.

02:20You can do it upside down. You can do it sideways.

02:23So it adds a little different perspective.

02:25And, you know, about staying up here longer,

02:28one of the things I was sort of regretting about a short-duration flight

02:32is I wasn't going to be able to share it with a lot of people.

02:35One of the things I like to do up here is sort of write like a little recap of the week

02:39and send it down to people so they can see what fun we're having

02:43and what kind of work we're doing up here.

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