NASA’s stranded astronauts have given a rare interview in which they addressed concerns about their health and safety.
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who were only supposed to spend eight days aboard the International Space Station (ISS) when they arrived on June 6, spoke to Good Morning about their extended stay on Thursday.
When asked if they had a message for people who have been worried about them, Wilmore said: ‘We’re thankful for your support.’
The interview comes just days after Elon Musk said the Starliner crew was abandoned in space by the Biden administration for ‘political reasons.’
When asked about Musk’s remarks, Wilmore said: ‘Political reasons — I have not heard that. I’m not sure that that could be the case based on what I know.’
He also explained that he and Williams do not view themselves as ‘stranded’, saying: ‘That’s not how we feel.’
The two astronauts have now been on the ISS for 266 days. They’re currently scheduled to return to Earth on a SpaceX spacecraft in March, but by that time, they will have spent more than nine months in space.
During a Thursday interview with Good Morning America, NASA’s stranded astronauts issued a powerful five-word message to Americans: ‘We’re thankful for your support’
Americans have been concerned about Williams and Wilmore since their capsule, Boeing’s Starliner, was plagued with issues while taking them to the ISS.
NASA and Boeing spent months trying to fix helium leaks and other issues, but the craft was eventually deemed unsafe and sent back to Earth in September without the pair.
‘There’s many ways to characterize it, stranded I don’t think is one of them,’ Wilmore told GMA.
‘We came up here with a plan to test out the spacecraft and return. The plan changed.
‘We also came up here with a backup plan, fully trained to do everything that you can do on the International Space Station, because in this business nothing is a given.’
Earlier this month, NASA announced Williams and Wilmore should be coming home around March 19 or 20.
When the astronauts finally return to Earth next month, Wilmore said the first thing he will do is ‘hug and kiss’ his wife and his two teenage daughters.
Although the Starliner crew will not break the record for the most consecutive days spent in space, they will have logged an unusually long amount of time on the ISS, and this may have consequences for their health.
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were only supposed to spend eight days aboard the International Space Station when they launched toward the orbiting laboratory on June 5
During a joint Fox News interview with President Donald Trump, SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said the Biden administration left the Starliner crew in space for ‘political reasons’
Long-duration ISS missions typically last six months, and research conducted by NASA has found that spending that much time in low gravity leads to significant muscle and bone loss.
Without Earth’s gravity working against the human body, weight-bearing bones lose on average 1 percent to 1.5 percent of their mineral density per month, according to NASA.
Even after astronauts return to Earth, that bone loss might not be completely corrected by rehabilitation.
Research has also shown that astronauts who spend six months in space loses about half their strength as their muscles rapidly deteriorate, which is why they spend at least two hours a day exercising to combat muscle wasting.
Space radiation is also a concern. In just one week on the ISS, astronauts are exposed to the equivalent of one year’s worth of the radiation they would experience on Earth.
This can lead to the development of certain cancers and increase the risk of other degenerative disorders that affect multiple tissues, such as the heart, blood vessels and eyes, according to NASA.
Doctors and NASA insiders previously raised concerns about Williams’ weight during her extended ISS stay, pointing to photos where she appeared ‘gaunt.’
But NASA officials have said both Williams and Wilmore remain healthy despite the additional time they are spending in the harsh conditions of space, and that they are being closely monitored by agency doctors.
The Starliner crew’s return has been delayed multiple times over the last eight months.
Following months of technical issues, including thruster failures and helium leaks, Starliner was set back to Earth without Williams and Wilmore in September.
At that time, NASA planned to bring the astronauts home in February, when they could hitch a ride on the return flight of SpaceX’s Crew-9 spacecraft.
But in December, another month was added to their stay because SpaceX engineers needed more time to ready the Crew-10 spacecraft for launch.
The Crew-9 spacecraft that will carry both its crew — NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov — and the Starliner astronauts back to Earth is already docked to the ISS.
But it can’t depart until the Crew-10 mission gets to the space station.
That’s because NASA protocol necessitates what’s known as a ‘handover period,’ in which a departing ISS crew briefly overlaps with an incoming crew to share information with them and ensure a smooth transition between the two teams.
This is why the Crew-10 delay added more time to Williams and Wilmore’s stay on the ISS.
