(CNN) – The two NASA astronauts who piloted the first crew test flight of Boeing's Starliner capsule — and the two who stayed aboard the space station when they returned to Earth — answered questions Friday for the first time in weeks.
Butch Wilmore, a Tennessee native and former Navy test pilot, said during the interview that he and his crew, Suni Williams, are “very lucky” to have the ability to stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for a few more months. travel
“There have been many cases in the past where there were no other options,” Willmore said.
Still, he believes the astronauts and NASA and Boeing teams on the ground might have eventually reached a consensus on analyzing the Starliner's problems if they had more time.
“I think the data could have come through. We could have gotten to the point, I think, and we could have come back on the Starliner,” he said. “But we ran out of time.”
Wilmore added that time constraints are a fact of life on the space station, which follows a busy schedule that unloads a rotating crew of astronauts and cargo ships.
Before returning Starliner to an empty home on September 7, NASA noted the need to clear the docking port where the vehicle had been parked to make way for other spacecraft.
During a press conference on August 24, NASA officials also indicated that Boeing disagreed with some of the space agency's risk assessments.
“There was a slight difference of opinion (between NASA and Boeing) as to the level of risk,” said Steve Stich, NASA's commercial team program manager.
Starliner, which suffered helium leaks and propulsion problems en route to the ISS in June, returned to Earth without major problems, although officials said there was an additional problem with the vehicle's propulsion, or small engines, and the vehicle's orientation in space. But the problem did not affect the overall landing.
“I'm so glad he came home safely,” Williams said Friday after returning to the Starliner. “The whole crew was up at 3 a.m. and we had it on our iPads and watched it land.”
Teams on the ground and in space “made the right decisions,” Williams said.
“It's risky, that's how it goes in this business,” he said.
Adjusting to months of work
Williams and Wilmore launched aboard Starliner in early June, expecting to spend only about eight days in the orbiting lab. Now they will return home on a SpaceX mission scheduled to return in 2025.
Asked if he had trouble adjusting to the prospect of waiting months to return home, Wilmore said Friday: “I'm not going to worry about it. I mean, there's no benefit. So my transition—maybe it wasn't immediate—but it was pretty close.
Williams said she misses her family and pets. He admitted to CNN's Christine Fisher that he was disappointed to miss 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 a job, quote, you do it. You can do it the other way around, so it adds a different perspective.
Wilmore said he and Williams will participate in discussions with NASA and Boeing about what needs to change to get the Starliner shuttle back on track.
“Obviously, when you have issues like we had, some changes have to be made. Boeing acknowledges that. We all agree on that,” Willmore said.
The Starliner crewed test flight is “intended to push the limits … and when you do things with a spacecraft like Starliner that haven't been done before, you're going to discover some things,” he added. “In this case, we found some things that we weren't comfortable putting back on the Starliner.”
