Rhiannon Ingle
The pair of NASA astronauts who have been stuck in space since last summer have now revealed exactly what they’ll miss about space when they return to Earth.
The likes of Sunita 'Suni' Williams and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore docked their Boeing Starliner onto the International Space Station (ISS) back in June 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.
According to the BBC, a number of issues including fuel leaks, helium leaks and five dead manoeuvring thrusters affected the spacecraft's expendable propulsion system - this would have been used to push the capsule away from the ISS and towards Earth.
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Williams and Wilmore have since assured the public they weren't abandoned on the ISS following claims made by President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk that their return was delayed by the Joe Biden administration for political reasons.
Speaking in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper last month (13 February), Wilmore explained: "That’s been the rhetoric. That’s been the narrative from day one: stranded, abandoned, stuck - and I get it. We both get it.
"But that is, again, not what our human spaceflight program is about. We don’t feel abandoned, we don’t feel stuck, we don’t feel stranded."
Wilmore then urged: "If you’ll help us change the rhetoric, help us change the narrative. Let’s change it to 'prepared and committed'.
"That’s what we prefer."
Williams added: "Butch and I knew this was a test flight.
"We knew that we would probably find some things [wrong with Starliner] and we found some stuff, and so that was not a surprise."
Interestingly, however, after spending nearly nine months longer than their scheduled time in space, the pair revealed somewhat of a sadness of leaving where they've called home for 273 days now.
During a press conference on Tuesday (4 March) from the ISS, Williams said that she would 'miss everything about space'.
"Just the fact that we're living up here in this very unique place gives you an amazing perspective not only, out the window, obviously, but also just on how to solve problems," she continued.
"I don't want to lose that spark of inspiration and that perspective when I leave, so I got to bottle it somehow."
She did note that the journey had been a 'rollercoaster' for the families back on Earth given the uncertainty as to when they would eventually return home, per the Indian Express.
It was this exact uncertainty Williams said was the most challenging aspect to the situation.
And as for Wilmore?
Reflecting on his time in space, the astronaut said his greatest responsibility was getting someone into a spacewalk suit before describing his proudest moment as opening the hatch and bringing them back in after the walk.
Musk's space exploration firm confirmed last month that the pair of astronauts were now scheduled to be home later this month (19 March) - two weeks earlier than planned.