NASA astronauts not 'fretting' over extended mission, 'grateful' for more time in space after Starliner woes

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore assured folks Friday they’re not "fretting" over being delayed in returning to Earth by several months and that they are "grateful" for the extra time in space. 

"We’re not surprised when plans get changed," Williams, her hair standing on end, told reporters in an afternoon press conference, a week after the troubled Boeing Starliner that carried the pair to the space station in June returned to Earth by itself. 

Williams and Wilmore launched June 5 to the International Space Station (ISS) on a Boeing Starliner and were expected to only stay eight days before returning home in the capsule, but helium leaks and thruster problems on board caused concerns. 

Eventually, it was decided the astronauts would extend their stay at the space station and are expected to return in February with a crew launching later this month in a SpaceX Dragon capsule that will leave two seats empty.

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Wilmore said of Starliner’s problems that there will be "lessons learned," and the "things that need to change will change." 

"Boeing’s on board with that. We’re all on board with that," he added. "We found some things that we just could not get comfortable with putting us back in the Starliner when we had other options."

Wilmore said he and Williams felt "very fortunate" they had the option to remain longer at ISS and return home on another craft. 

He said given enough time, he felt they could have figured out the issues with Starliner and manned it home themselves, but they "simply ran out of time." 

"We had to make some decisions on a timeline," he said. 

When asked by a Fox News reporter how Wilmore’s faith has helped him at the space station, he cited "2 Corinthians 12:9-10," saying it would explain how he feels about the situation. 

The passage says, "But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 

Williams said the pair are now "fully qualified crew members" at the space station and have been training on the job during their extended stay. 

She added that the pair are "actually excited to fly in two different spacecrafts. … We’re testers." 

"You have to turn the page and look at the next opportunity and do good for the agency," she said of the extension. 

Wilmore explained that astronauts are "tasked and we train to handle all types of situations. You have to go with whatever the good Lord gives you.

"It’s not what we do at NASA, it’s more like who were are."

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Williams explained that there were "a lot of opinions" about whether they should return aboard Starliner.

"It takes a lot of people to have us come up to the space station and to have us come home," she said, but the decision was eventually made that it was too risky to send them home on Starliner. 

"Things I can’t control I’m not going to fret over," Wilmore told a reporter of his mental adjustment to the delay. "Maybe it wasn’t instantaneous, but it’s close. It was very short-lived."

"We’re professionals," Williams agreed, adding she was "fretting" more over the planned fall and winter events that she would miss with her family than for herself. 

But she said she was "so happy [that Starliner] got home with no problems" Sept. 6. 

Of transitioning to the longer stay at the space station, Wilmore joked that he was told he had the "second-best hair" at the station while looking at Williams’ long, curly locks sticking straight up. 

He added that "transitioning to space and transitioning back" to Earth "is comfortable."

"Your joints don’t ache. All the aches and pains you may feel on a daily basis are just not prevalent in space," he added of the effects of microgravity on the body. 

Williams noted, however, that astronauts can "lose bone density and bone mass" in space, so they both focus on working out every morning before work, including cardio and a machine that helps them do dead lifts and squats. 

"This is my happy place," she said. 

Wilmore said that while it’s been hard missing some of his kids’ milestones this year, they’re all going to "learn from this and grow from this." 

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Williams added that aside from doing "world-class science" at the space station, it’s often "very peaceful" there, giving her time to feel "introspective" as she watches "our planet go by." 

"It just changes your perspective," she said, adding that from the space station it’s "very hard for me up here to imagine people on Earth not getting along."