Discovery
NASA astronauts upbeat 7 months into 8-day mission
'When we get home, we'll have lots of stories to tell,' said NASA astronaut and ISS commander Suni Williams.
![From left to right: NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague, Don Pettit and Suni Williams are seen aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in a video screenshot during a call with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy on January 8. [NASA]](/gc8/images/2025/01/09/48745-screenshot-370_237.webp)
By BlueShift and AFP |
WASHINGTON -- Two US astronauts who have been stuck for months on the International Space Station (ISS) on January 8 said they have plenty of food, are not facing a laundry crisis and do not feel like castaways.
Veteran NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at the ISS in June aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, and were due to spend only eight days on the orbiting laboratory.
But problems with the Starliner's propulsion system prompted NASA to change plans, with a return flight now scheduled for late March at the earliest.
Spirits are still high despite the unexpectedly long stay in space, said Williams.
"It's just been a joy to be working up here," the ISS commander said during a call with NASA officials.
"It doesn't feel like we're cast away," she added. "Eventually we want to go home, because we left our families a little while ago, but we have a lot to do while we're up here."
Positive attitude
Wilmore chuckled while offering reassurance about food supply.
"We are well fed," he said, patting his stomach.
Laundry requirements are also not comparable to Earth, he explained.
"Clothes fit loosely up here. It's not like on Earth where you sweat and it gets bad. I mean, they fit loosely. So you can wear things honestly, for weeks at a time, and it doesn't bother you at all," he said.
After the propulsion problems developed, NASA ultimately decided to return the spacecraft to Earth without its crew, and to bring the two stranded astronauts back home with the members of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission.
Crew-9's two astronauts arrived at the ISS aboard a Dragon spacecraft in late September, with two empty seats for Wilmore and Williams. The plan was for all four to return home in February.
But the return was postponed last month when NASA announced that Crew-10, which would relieve Crew-9 and the stranded pair, would now launch no earlier than March, and both teams would remain on board for a "handover period."
Wilmore and Williams are scheduled to spend more than nine months in space, according to these timelines.
"When we get home, we'll have lots of stories to tell," Williams said.