The teen daughter of stranded NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore has spoken out about her dad for the first time, blaming ‘negligence’ for him being ‘stuck in space.’
In a heartbreaking video quietly uploaded to social media last month, Daryn, 19, said that her father had ‘missed out on a lot’ during his uncertain nine-month stay in space — including Christmas and her parents’ 30-year wedding anniversary.
Wilmore’s wife and his two daughters live in Houston, Texas, where they have been patiently awaiting his return since June of last year.
‘It’s been hard if we’re completely honest’, she said. Daryn said her frustration about her father’s stay was ‘less the fact that he’s up there’ and ‘more the fact of why.’
‘There’s a lot of politics, there’s a lot of things that I’m not at liberty to say, and that I don’t know fully about,’ she said.
‘But there’s been issues. There’s been negligence. And that’s the reason why this has just kept getting delayed. There’s just been issue after issue after issue.’
Daryn posted the video just weeks before SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, whose company is tasked with bringing the Starliner crew back to Earth later this month, said the Biden administration left them in space for ‘political reasons.’
Wilmore and his crewmate, Sunita Williams, were set to return from the ISS eight days after arriving, but their return capsule was plagued by issues and NASA delayed the flight home. They are set to come back to Earth no earlier than March 19.
Daryn, 19, said that her father’s delayed return is ‘really frustrating’ and noted that a ‘nine-month delay is uncommon.’ Pictured is her on the left, Wilmore and his wife Deanna
The teenaged daughter of stranded NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore has spoken out about her dad, blaming ‘negligence’ and ‘politics’ for his delayed return from space
While stuck in space, Wilmore also missed most of his 16-year-old daughter Logan’s senior year of high school and Daryn’s college theater performances.
Logan has been open about missing her dad as well.
In a video posted in August, she shared a clip of her father getting ready to board Starliner followed by another of her hugging him, with the caption: ‘Not dead, just stuck in space. I’m not worried at all, just miss him!’
Another video in October served as a heartwarming tribute to her dad, featuring a slideshow of photos of the two of them together.
But the sisters have been able to keep in touch with their dad through regular video calls.
‘I talk to my dad all the time,’ Daryn said, adding that she calls him every day or every couple of days.
‘That makes things really nice,’ she added.
Daryn also said the fact that her dad will most likely be coming home in mid-March is ‘so exciting.’
‘I miss him so much,’ she said, adding she can’t wait to hug him and feels glad that he will be able to see her take the stage in an upcoming theater performance and see Logan graduate high school this spring.
‘But fingers crossed, things could always change. And especially with this whole thing — we’ve had so many changes. And it’s a bit mentally exhausting,’ she said.
Although both Wilmore’s daughters admit that the months they have spent without him have been challenging, they have both said they are not worried about him.
‘He’s just been bummed, but he’s fine. My dad is very resilient,’ Daryn said.
Wilmore left behind his wife Deanna (left) and two daughters Daryin (center left) and Logan (center right) when he launched into space on June 5. Pictured: the Wilmore family attend the New York premier of ‘A Beautiful Planet’ in New York City in August, 2016.
NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore (left) and Sunita Williams (right) arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on June 6 and have been stuck there for the last nine months. Here they are pictured with NASA astronaut Nick Hague )middle)
Daryn shared the videos just weeks before Musk went on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast to double down on his statement that the astronauts were ‘abandoned,’ saying Biden rejected his offer because it would’ve made Donald Trump ‘look good.’
Musk backed Trump during the 2024 presidential race, donating $288 million to his campaign and appearing at several MAGA rallies.
The tech CEO told Rogan that the Biden administration did not want to jeopardize Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign and intentionally ‘pushed the return date past the inauguration date.’
Musk also noted that the Biden administration was suing SpaceX at the time.
During a Tuesday press conference, Williams and Wilmore were asked if the Biden administration did in fact decline Musk’s offer to bring them home early, to which Wilmore replied that Musk’s claim ‘is absolutely factual.’
‘I can only say that Mr Musk, what he says, is absolutely factual,’ Wilmore said, noting he and Williams were not briefed on what happened behind closed doors.
‘So I believe him. I don’t know all those details, and I don’t think any of us really can give you the answer that maybe that you would be hoping for,’ he added.
In a Wednesday X post, Musk wrote: ‘The astronauts were only supposed to be up there for 8 days and now have been there for 8 months. SpaceX could have sent up another Dragon and brought them home 6 months ago, but the Biden-Harris White House (not NASA) refused to allow it.
‘President Trump asked to bring them back as soon as possible and we are doing so.’
Williams and Wilmore will hitch a ride home on SpaceX’s Crew-9 Dragon spacecraft later this month and are due back on Earth around March 19 or 20.
Their original spacecraft, Starliner, was sent home without them in September following numerous thruster issues and helium leaks.
These technical issues would have posed too much of a risk to Williams and Wilmore’s safety had they tried to return home in the ship.
