Are NASA, Boeing to be blamed for Sunita Williams & Butch Willmore’s extended space stay? Astronauts respond

After their extended nine months stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Willmore opened up about their time in space for the first time.

In a Fox News interview that aired on Monday (Mar 31), Williams and Willmore revealed the reason behind their delay on their flight back home.

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Who is to blame?

Opening about the failure of the Boeing spacecraft, Willmore said that everyone, including himself, was responsible for their unplanned stay at the ISS.

“‘They’ failed you. Who? Who’s ‘they’?” he asked. “There are many questions that, as the commander of CFT, I didn’t ask, so I’m culpable… I’ll admit that to the nation.”

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“There’s things that I did not ask that I should have asked. I didn’t know at the time that I needed to ask them, but, in hindsight… some of the signals were there,” he added.

When asked whether Boeing and NASA were at fault, Willmore responded, “Sure. Everybody has a piece in this because it did not come off. There were some shortcomings in tests and shortcomings in preparations that we did not foresee.”

Wilmore added that he did not “want to point fingers” and instead wants to “look forward” and learn from mistakes.

Were they ‘abandoned’ or ‘stuck’?

The duo also talked about claims that they were “abandoned” or “stuck” in space.

“Okay, in certain respects, we were stuck. In certain respects, maybe we were stranded,” he said, adding that they did not arrive on the Earth as per the plan. 

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The astronaut then mentioned they were not stuck as they were “prepared and trained” for this.

The pair said that despite their recent challenging journey to space, they would like to return to space again in future.

Williams and Willmore also expressed their gratitude to US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk for ensuring their safe return to Earth.

“Our situation, I think I mentioned before, maybe wasn’t the perfect situation, but allowed a lot of people, including the President and Elon, to look at what’s going on on the International Space Station, take it very seriously and understand that our involvement as a country, as a space-faring nation, is really important throughout the world.”

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Extended stay in space

Sunita Williams and Butch Willmore embarked on a 10-day mission aboard the Boeing Starliner on June 5, 2024. However, they were unable to return after the spacecraft experienced thruster malfunctions during its approach and docking manoeuvres.

Following an extensive investigation on the ground by NASA and Boeing, the spacecraft was deemed too risky to carry the astronauts back home, resulting in their unexpected extended stay at the space station.

The duo finally returned to Earth on March 18 after their extended nine-month stay on the International Space Station (ISS).

(With inputs from agencies)