NASA's Sunita Williams, Butch recall Starliner's journey to space: 'We didn't know if we would be able to make it back'
During their space journey last year, NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore wondered whether they would have been able to 'make it back' home if their Starliner vehicle had not docked with the International Space Station (ISS).
Starliner's historic first test mission with NASA astronauts had issues docking with the ISS on June 6 after five thrusters (out of 28) in its reaction control system misbehaved.
Two months after safely landing on Earth, Butch Wilmore recalled the horror he and Sunita Williams faced when their Boeing Starliner capsule was detected with faults mid-journey.
Wilmore told BBC News that docking of the spacecraft with the space station was 'imperative'. But when the spacecraft endured a series of thruster failures and helium leaks, the astronauts were unable to fly forward to dock.
"If we weren't able to dock, would we be able to make it back? We didn't know," Wilmore said.
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore had launched into space on June 5, riding on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. They reached the ISS on June 6. They were supposed to spend eight days in space, but they ended up staying for around nine months due to the faults in the Starliner.
The NASA had determined it was too much of a risk to put the two NASA astronauts back on board Starliner, and changed its ISS manifest to bring the astronauts home in another way.
The two NASA astronauts returned safely to Earth in March this year, on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
Since their return, the duo have been working with the NASA and Boeing to fix problems with the malfunctioning spacecraft that took them into space last summer, BBC reported.
"We are very positively hopeful that there will be opportunities to fly the Boeing Starliner in the future," Wilmore said.
Both astronauts said they would personally fly in the craft again - once those technical issues were resolved.
"It's a very capable spacecraft," Sunita Williams was quoted as saying. She added, "It has unique capabilities compared to other spacecraft that are out there that are really great for future astronauts to fly."
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