Nasa astronaut Sunita Williams’s husband Michael Williams said his wife is not very disappointed because she is stranded in space. “That’s her happy place,” he said while speaking to the Wall Street Journal.
Sunita Williams herself appeared to agree with what her husband said last month. “We are having a great time here on ISS,” she said during a press conference in July.
Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, who were originally scheduled to spend a little more than a week aboard the International Space Station as part of the debut crew flight test of the Starliner, will likely have to extend their stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for several months as the spacecraft encountered several issues during the flight.
They could now be spending eight months in the ISS with a possible return in February. NASA will issue a decision by mid-August as to whether Wilmore and Williams can return on board Starliner, or if they will have to wait for their retrieval by a SpaceX craft.
“Butch and Suni are ready to do whatever we need them to do,” said Steve Stich, a senior NASA official, earlier this week.
Both astronauts have worked as test pilots for the US Navy, and each has already flown to the ISS twice before.
Wilmore, the mission commander, had spent 178 days in space prior to the Boeing mission, while Williams, the pilot, had even more experience, with 322 days under her belt.
A separate report by US-based local news outlet WVLT said that even Wilmore’s family is calm despite the problems with the Starliner spacecraft because of which he has to remain in outer space longer.
“You know, we probably don’t expect him until February, February or March,” Wilmore’s wife Deanna was quoted as saying by WVLT.
“It is so cool, he gives us a lot of Earth views, I especially like seeing the sunset,” his daughter, Daryn Wilmore, said.
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