Nasa astronauts stuck in space to give update on return to Earth – BBC.com
Two Nasa astronauts stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) since last summer have been giving an update on their return to Earth – watch their news conference back at the top of the pageSuni Williams and Butch Wilmore left Earth in June 2024 for an eight-day mission to test Boeing Starliner’s capsuleBut Nasa decided to keep them on the ISS after the capsule suffered technical problems and returned to Earth empty”We came up prepared to stay long, even though we planned to stay short,” Wilmore says, adding that human space flight “is all about planning for unexpected contingencies”Williams and Wilmore are expected to make the trip home on an alternative craft – a SpaceX Crew Dragon – “no earlier than 12 March”This video can not be playedWhat will they miss about space?Edited by Andrew HumphreyAdam GoldsmithLive reporterAfter circling the Earth nearly nine months longer than intended, astronaut Suni Williams gave no indication that she regrets her time aboard the International Space Station when she spoke to reporters today.It was an attitude reflected by her crew mate Butch Wilmore – though the pair both admitted missing their families.Now the opportunity for the pair to hug a relative or cuddle one of their dogs is on the horizon, after a Nasa spokesperson set out plans for the astronauts’ return.The return of crew nine, which includes Williams and Wilmore, will begin when crew 10 arrives at the ISS – this will be “no earlier than 12 March”, the spokesperson said.There will then be a handover period between the two crews.No timeframe was given for how long this handover might take, but the Nasa spokesperson said this will then “set the stage” for crew nine to return home aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule.”We’ll be coming home, riding the plasma, splashing in the ocean, so that’s what we’re looking forward to,” Butch Wilmore said.That wraps up our live coverage from the ISS, but we’ve further reading of Williams’ and Wilmore’s extended spell in space here. Or, why not take an astronaut’s eye of the view of the aurora, mentioned by Williams. Thanks for reading.This video can not be playedWatch: What will they miss about space?One of the final questions the team were asked was if any aspects of space flight get harder as they get older. Butch Wilmore said the aches and pains go away when they are in space, and Suni Williams said it’s actually easy to sleep up in space. And asked what was the most exciting part of the mission, Wilmore said it was a great responsibility to put someone else in a spacewalk suit and then, when you open that hatch and bring them in, that’s the proudest moment. Hague says he’s looking forward to bringing crew nine home.Suni said the most exciting thing was seeing aurora. “The sun has been really active – it puts you in your place and you recognise that the universe is extremely powerful.”The astronauts have finished taking questions now, but stick with us as we bring you a bit more from the news conference.A light-hearted moment next, as all three astronauts are asked what fun items they packed for their mission.Williams says that she brought a card game – though admits that she didn’t expect it to work – but the crew all managed to play.Nick Hague describes how he brought some sheet music, while Wilmore says that he had some sentimental naval aviator pilot wings in gold made into a ring that he carries with him.The astronauts are asked to describe the differences between the Dragon and Starliner spacecraft. As a follow up, they are asked whether they would have been happy to return on Starliner, if instructed, after issues were detected.Williams and Wilmore travelled to the ISS on board a Boeing Starliner vessel, but will return to Earth in a SpaceX Dragon.Wilmore says that he and Williams would have been “happy” to head back to Earth on their original spacecraft if they had been told to.As for the differences, Wilmore describes how the team has “different roles” depending on which vessel they use, but says they are just “fortunate and thankful” that they have seats. “We’ll be coming home, riding the plasma, splashing in the ocean, so that’s what we’re looking forward to,” he adds.Did Williams and Wilmore want to return home earlier at any point?”We came up prepared to stay long, even though we planned to stay short,” Wilmore says in response to a reporter question.”That’s what human space flight is all about, planning for unexpected contingencies and we did that.” There’s then a question about the condition of the ISS, after Elon Musk reportedly suggested that it is showing its age. Williams says she has been “extremely impressed” by how much science is going on at the space station. “I would say we’re actually in our prime right now,” she suggests. “We have probably until 2030 in our agreements, and I think that’s probably really accurate.”The astronauts are asked if they are concerned that Nasa could be distracted by political pressure to downsize. Nick Hague responds that Williams and Wilmore are insulated from what is going on down on the ground, but he says they are in contact with support teams on a minute by minute basis. The support from the operational teams on the ground has been “unwavering”.Wilmore is asked what is his main takeaway from his nine months in space. He replies that his faith has been very important.Williams and Wilmore are asked what they have found most challenging, as well as what they’ll miss most, about the ISS when they land back on Earth.Williams describes how the events have been a “rollercoaster” for families back on the ground who don’t know when they’re coming back – and this has been the hardest part. On the other hand, Williams admits that she will “miss everything about space”. She describes how it has given her “an amazing perspective”, and jokes that she hopes to find a way to “bottle it somehow” when she heads back home.Hague continues by setting out what’s going to happen next. He says “in a few short days” Crew 10 will arrive, and his team will then “hand the baton” to them, before they return to Earth “at the end of a successful, long duration mission”.Hague doesn’t give a more specific timeframe than this for the crew’s touchdown on Earth, but says the handover with Crew 10 will mark the continuation of the space station’s legacy. The space-based news conference begins and we hear some opening remarks from Commander Nick Hague. The astronaut addresses the decision made to keep Wilmore and Williams on board the ISS, and describes how he has joined them in the space station since they arrived in June. Hague says that the mission of the space station is “something we deeply believe in”, and says that this compels the team to accept the risks of space exploration. Secondly, the astronaut describes what a “privilege” it’s been to work with his two stranded colleagues, and says he’s been “proud” to see how they’ve responded to the unexpected situation.We’re expecting to hear from the astronauts on board the International Space Station in the next few minutes.We’ll bring you what they have to say here, and you can also peek into space by tapping watch live at the top of the page.Georgina RannardClimate and science reporterThey haven’t been on holiday up there. Astronauts are usually very busy on the ISS, helping to run the complex station and carrying out scientific work. That research includes looking at plant growth in space, monitoring how human bodies react to living in space, and even how to grow food.I spoke to other astronauts who have spent time in space about what life is really like on the ISS. You can read about their experiences – and what space smells like – as astronauts reveal what life is like on the ISS.The Starliner flight that carried Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore into space was airline company Boeing’s first venture into the arena of space flight. When it finally blasted off from its Cape Canaveral launchpad in Florida after years of delays, Starliner propelled Boeing to become the second private firm to provide crew transport to the ISS. The other firm, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, was the first after Nasa decided that it no longer wanted to own and operate these spacecraft. Instead, Nasa gave contracts to SpaceX and Boeing, paying them $2.6bn and $4.2bn respectively for six operational missions.By giving a contract to Boeing as well as Elon Musk’s firm, the idea was that competition in the sector would bring down costs, as well as encouraging new approaches to technology development and greater innovation.This video can not be playedStranded astronaut says “space is my happy place”We heard from Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore back in September 2024 when they said they’d been trained to “expect the unexpected”.”This is my happy place,” Williams said, but she admitted she missed her family and two dogs.The pair thanked people for sending them messages and prayers. “The concern for us specifically is very heart-warming,” Wilmore said.Asked if they felt let down by Nasa, Wilmore replied “absolutely not”.Now, after more than eight months stranded in space we’re set to hear from the pair of astronauts again about their return to Earth.This video can not be playedWatch: Starliner undocks from ISS and returns to Earth without crewOn 6 September last year, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft touched down on Earth after a successful return journey from the International Space Station – there was just one problem; the astronauts it was supposed to be carrying had been left behind.The capsule suffered technical problems after it had launched, and it was deemed too risky to take the astronauts home.In a news briefing following the landing, Nasa spokesperson Steve Stich said: “From a human perspective, all of us feel happy about the successful landing, but then there’s a piece of us – all of us – that wish it would have been the way we had planned it.He added there was “clearly work to do”, and that it would take “a little time” to determine what will come next.Boeing, meanwhile, released a statement saying it would “review the data and determine the next steps” forward for the programme.The manager of the ISS Dana Wiegel also reassured the public that Wilmore and Williams were adapting well to their extended mission.Georgina RannardClimate and science reporterThis isn’t the first time hearing from the astronauts. They’ve done several press conferences since last June. We are getting very close now to their planned return, so the pair may say something about those plans.US President Donald Trump and his chief enforcer Elon Musk, who owns SpaceX, have suggested that former president Joe Biden had left the pair “virtually abandoned in space”. However, plans for Suni and Butch’s return were made long before Trump took office.But it is unlikely the two astronauts will answer questions about that today.Georgina RannardClimate and science reporterSuni Williams and Butch Wilmore have now been on the International Space Station (ISS) for 272 days.Most space missions last around six months, so it is unusual to spend closer to nine months on the ISS. But both Williams and Wilmore say they are happy to be there, and have thrown themselves into the science research and maintenance of the ISS that all astronauts contribute to.In November Nasa said that two resupply flights had re-stocked the ISS with food, water, clothes and oxygen.It also took “special items for the crew to celebrate the holidays aboard the orbital platform”.Today we are expecting to hear more about their planned return, which could be as soon as in the next two weeks.Sunita “Suni” WilliamsSuni was selected as an astronaut by Nasa in 1998 and is a veteran of two space missions before her current stay in the ISS, Nasa say. She also worked in Moscow with the Russian Space Agency on the Russian contribution to the space station.She then branched out to work in the Robotics division. Williams spent a total of 322 days in space over the course of her previous two missions. With 50 hours and 40 minutes, she is second on the list of total cumulative spacewalk time by a female astronaut.Barry “Butch” WilmoreButch is a veteran of two spaceflights and has accumulated 178 days in space, according to Nasa, however this figure may rocket as his latest voyage hasn’t yet been fully tallied up. He was selected as an astronaut by Nasa in July 2000 and is a retired US Navy captain. In his last mission, he served as a Flight Engineer for Expedition 41, and he assumed command of the ISS upon arrival of the Expedition 42 crew. He returned to Earth in March 2015. During this mission, he logged 167 days in space and performed four spacewalks.Georgina RannardClimate and science reporterSuni Williams and Butch Wilmore blasted into space last June on an experimental spacecraft made by Boeing, expecting to stay on the International Space Station for eight days. The spacecraft, called Starliner, was developed by the company for Nasa, and the flight was its first with astronauts on board.But problems quickly developed. There were issues with the thrusters that propel it, and there were leaks of helium gas which pushes fuel into the propulsion system.A running saga ensued as Nasa said it was looking at the technical issues, and the proposed return date moved later and later. Eventually Nasa and Boeing agreed that they did not want to risk using Starliner to bring the pair home. Instead they are expected to return to Earth on a SpaceX capsule. In January, Nasa said they were again delaying the astronauts’ homecoming because the SpaceX craft wasn’t ready.Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.
