Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams originally planned to spend just over a week, but the trip became a horror story with a Hollywood twist. So who are the heroes of the Boeing Starliner?
The stranded astronauts’ crisis seems to be over.outer space,It has become the beginning of an exciting science film on the big screen that the world is now watching, although the Boeing Starliner mission is not a work of Hollywood imagination.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were originally scheduled to spend just over a week aboard the International Space Station as part of the first crewed flight test of Starliner.
Mid-August NASA to decide fate of astronauts
However, the spacecraft encountered several problems during the flight, and the astronauts will now likely have to extend their stay aboard the International Space Station for several months, according to a statement issued by NASA on Thursday.
NASA is expected to make a final decision by mid-August on whether Wilmore and Williams can return aboard Starliner, or whether they will have to wait to be retrieved by SpaceX.
Steve Stich, a senior official at the NASA, Earlier this week: “Butch and Sonny are willing to do whatever we want them to do.”
The two astronauts served as test pilots for the US Navy, and each has already flown to the International Space Station twice before.
178 days in space before Boeing mission
Wilmore, the mission commander, had spent 178 days in space before the Boeing mission, while Williams, the pilot, had more experience, having spent 322 days in space before the latest mission.
“We are having a great time here on the International Space Station,” Williams said during a news conference in July.
The duo has been actively involved in the development of Starliner for several years in preparation for its first manned test flight.
Long-term spacefaring instructors
Williams and Wilmore are “fully trained” for their long stay in space, NASA’s International Space Station program manager Dana Weigel said this week.
“Two years ago, we made the decision knowing that this was a test flight to make sure that we had the resources, the supplies, the training for the crew, just in case we needed to stay on the International Space Station for whatever reason, for a longer period of time,” Dana Weigel said.
While aboard the International Space Station, the astronauts don’t sit around twiddling their thumbs; they play an active role in helping the seven other astronauts on board with their daily work.
“Top Gun” is Wilmore’s best movie.
The typical length of an astronaut’s mission to the International Space Station is six months, with some even spending about a year aboard the flying laboratory, which has been permanently occupied for nearly a quarter century.
Wilmore and Williams’ estimated stay of about eight months would not be out of the ordinary. However, their friends and family expected to see them again much sooner.
Wilmore, the Boeing Starliner mission commander, is about 61 years old, married and has two daughters.
A Tennessee native and deeply religious man, he is also a fan of the “Top Gun” series of films about U.S. Navy pilots.
He was selected to become an astronaut in 2000 and has since completed four spacewalks during his career.
Wilmore first visited the ISS in 2009 aboard NASA’s now-defunct space shuttles. He later returned in 2014-2015 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
For the Starliner flight, he switched to manual control before the craft docked at the International Space Station, which he praised for its precision.
“I really give Wilmore a lot of credit,” Williams said of her mission partner, Wilmore, at a pre-flight press conference. “It’s easy to say, ‘Yeah, that’s good. Let’s just go.’ But he was asking the question, ‘Why?’ the whole time.”
Jacques Cousteau in Space
Williams, 58, has completed at least seven spacewalks during her career, having also flown on the US Space Shuttle and the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
It was she who named the Boeing capsule used in the mission “Calypso,” in honor of the ship commanded by the famous French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau.
“When I was growing up, I couldn’t wait to watch his TV shows to see what he would explore,” Williams said before the trip.
Williams also holds the distinction of being the first person to complete a triathlon in space using a special swimming simulator.
In her spare time, Williams enjoys fixing cars and airplanes with her husband.
