Space: Astronauts stuck on the ISS: “It’s a joy to be here”

The two American astronauts stuck for more than six months in the International Space Station (ISS) assured Wednesday that they lack nothing in space and still have work to accomplish before their return to Earth, scheduled for March at the earliest.

Don’t panic, “we’re fed well,” said Butch Wilmore, laughing, during a call with officials from the American space agency, NASA.

Initially leaving for an eight-day mission, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, two space veterans, have been stuck on the ISS since last June due to malfunctions on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that had transported them.

The return planned for “end of March at the earliest”

As a precaution, NASA decided to send the spacecraft back empty and bring the two castaways back to Earth later, with a SpaceX mission. Their return is now planned for “the end of March at the earliest”.

Asked about their physical state and morale, the two astronauts assured that they were adapting well to their extended stay and being busy with various scientific missions. “It’s a joy to be here,” Suni Williams said.

“We would love to return home someday because we left our families a while ago, but we still have a lot of things to do while we are here,” she continued.

Eight days initially planned in space

The crew thus announced their plan to take a few steps into space in the coming weeks.

“Nick and I will do the first [sortie extravéhiculaire] next week,” said Suni Williams, about Nick Hague, another American astronaut present on the ISS. “And then Butch and I will do a second one the following week.”

If they return in March, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will have spent more than nine months in space instead of the eight days initially planned. Although they eat as much as they want, the astronauts admitted with a smile that they lacked a change of clothes in the early days.

“We will have many stories to tell”

“But that didn’t bother us,” assured Butch Wilmore. It’s not like on Earth where you sweat,” he explained, clothes not sticking to the skin due to the absence of gravity.

The two astronauts were leading the first crewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft when problems were detected with the propulsion system.

These failures led NASA to question the reliability of the spacecraft, a snub for the American manufacturer already mired in repeated setbacks with its airliners. “When we return home, we will have a lot of stories to tell,” Suni Williams said on Wednesday with a smile.

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