Starliner Astronauts Say What Theyll Miss During Extended Stay in Space

Nineteen astronauts across three spacecraft are currently in orbit around Earth — a record in the history of human spaceflight.Two of them, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore of NASA, were not originally scheduled to be up there at this time.But neither seems perturbed by that.

The two astronauts expressed staunch support for NASA and Boeing, the company whose troubled spacecraft they rode to the International Space Station in June, before it returned to the surface uncrewed last week.“This is my happy place,” Ms.Williams said at a news conference from the space station on Friday.

“I love being up here in space.It’s just fun, you know?”Mr.

Wilmore said he was not disappointed by NASA or Boeing or the decisions that led to their stay in orbit, which was originally announced as eight days in length but will now last until next year.“Let down?” Mr.Wilmore said.

“Absolutely not.Never entered my mind.”In June, Ms.

Williams and Mr.Wilmore launched to space on a test flight of Boeing’s Starliner.

The vehicle was to be a second commercial option for NASA to send people to and from the International Space Station.The spacecraft had suffered a series of technical hiccups across years of testing, including software errors, a faulty parachute system and a helium leak in the propulsion system used to maneuver the capsule in space.During the latest test flight, the first with astronauts aboard, more helium leaks sprang up once Starliner got to orbit.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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