Rhiannon Ingle
The pair of 'stranded' NASA astronauts have broken their silence for the first time since returning to Earth earlier this month (18 March).
Sunita 'Suni' Williams and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore docked their Boeing Starliner onto the International Space Station (ISS) last summer on 5 June, 2024 for what was supposed to be an eight-day mission, unaware that they'd be trapped in the ship for a further nine months following a bout of technical faults.
They ended up spending a staggering 286 days in space - which is a pretty monumental 278 days longer than anticipated when they launched and they've now opened up about their first reactions to hearing they would stay in space longer than the original timeline.
"My first thought was, we just got to pivot, right?," Williams, 59 said in an interview on Fox News' America’s Newsroom.
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"I was like, 'OK, let’s make the best of it', We planned, we trained that we’d be there for some part of a time, so we were ready to just jump into it and take on the tasks that were given to us."
Wilmore, 62, said he pushed his own feelings aside in order to focus on 'national goals'.
"It’s not about me, it’s not about my feelings," he said. "It’s about what this human space flight program is about. It’s our national goals.
"I have to wrap myself, my mind, around 'what does the nation need out of me right now?' Did I think about not being there for my daughter’s high school year, of course… certainly, deal with the personal side of it, but I can’t let that interfere with what I’m called to do."
It's clear that both Williams and Wilmore were looking forward to seeing loved ones after finally returning home and it seems the feeling was very mutual, with Wilmore’s daughter Daryn sharing an emotional TikTok video the day he returned.
She captioned the post: "We’re in a good mood today! Dad is comin back to Earth!"
Of course, both Wilmore and Williams will have a lengthy recovery process ahead of them, with NASA’s 45-day rehabilitation programme now underway.
Daryn said he was 'walking and snacking', but stressed: "Recovery time depends on the individual."
The programme is broken down into three stages, beginning with a focus on walking, flexibility, and muscle strengthening, before things move on to phase two, which adds proprioceptive exercises – aimed at strengthening the body and improving the mind's perception of its movement and position - and cardio reconditioning.
Finally, phase three, the longest, focuses on returning astronauts to their optimal level of physical performance via functional development training.
This process is crucial for astronauts returning home, as while they may exercise for at least two hours a day while on the ISS, this isn’t enough to fully counter the effects their bodies experience.