Stuck NASA astronauts 'Butch and Suni' to meet with Boeing over Starliner problems

The Manila Times

Stuck NASA astronauts 'Butch and Suni' to meet with Boeing over Starliner problems  NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who returned to Earth in a SpaceX capsule nine months after their faulty Boeing Starliner craft upended what was to be a week-long stay on the International Space Station, said they planned visit Boeing on Wednesday, April 2, to discuss the issues with the spacecraft.  "There's responsibility throughout all the programs," Wilmore told a news conference in Houston on Monday, March 3. "And certainly, you can start with me. Responsibility with Boeing, yes. Responsibility with NASA, yes. All the way up and down the chain. We all are responsible. We all own this."  The protracted space mission was fraught with uncertainty and technical troubles, turning a rare instance of NASA's contingency planning — and the latest failures of Starliner — into a global and political spectacle, which captured the attention of US President Donald Trump.  Upon taking office in January called for a quicker return of Wilmore and Williams and alleged, without evidence, that former President Joe Biden "abandoned" them on the ISS for political reasons.   REUTERS VIDEO  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe  Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net  Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion   Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital   Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer Stitcher: https://tmt.ph/stitcher  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein  Soundcloud: https://tmt.ph/soundcloud   #TheManilaTimes #tmtnews #starliner #NASA

Transcript

00:00represented here, another 120 or so on the phone.

00:02Butch and Sonny, have you been surprised by the continuing-

00:06Whom do you hold responsible for everything that happened? Thanks.

00:10That is a question that I cannot answer in a couple of comments,

00:14but I'll start with me. There were some issues, of course, that happened with Starliner.

00:21There were some issues, of course, that happened that prevented us from returning on Starliner.

00:25And I'll start with me. There were questions that I, as the commander of the spacecraft,

00:29that I should have asked, and I did not. At the time, I didn't know I needed to.

00:34And maybe you could call that hindsight, but I'll start and point the finger and I'll blame me.

00:38I could ask some questions, and the answers to those questions could have turned the tide.

00:44So blame, that's a term, I don't like that term, but certainly there's responsibility

00:49throughout all the programs, and certainly you can start with me.

00:53Um, responsibility with Boeing? Yes. Responsibility with NASA? Yes.

01:00All the way up and down the chain. We all are responsible. We all own this.

01:04After all these months, I mean, it's been almost, what,

01:06seven months since Starliner landed that they still haven't resolved all the-

01:10I think we all have alluded to it. There's lessons learned.

01:13And that, that's like a piece of hope, right? We're not just sitting here doing

01:17the same thing over and over again. And we're learning from every mistake,

01:21potentially, or maybe, maybe a decision that we've made and how we could make that better and

01:26do better the next time. When we go to the moon, we won't have an international space station to

01:31maybe take a stop at. We really have to get it right. And because of our mission, I think that

01:37highlighted some areas where maybe we need to work on and get it right for our fellow astronauts.

01:42I think they're encouraged by that, right? You learn and you move on and you get better.

01:47And I think that's part of the learning process. It's part of the exploration process.

01:52We are scheduled on Wednesday to meet with Boeing leadership, the program managers,

01:59senior chief engineers, to discuss some of these issues. They want to come together with us,

02:04Sonny and myself, because we live through this with them, and get on board with what the future

02:09looks like. And having flight crew with background in test and acquisition involved in the processes

02:15going forward to make sure that we're dotting every I and crossing every T. But still,

02:21that doesn't mean that you're guaranteed success in anything. Like we've said many times,

02:25this is a tough business. You need them. They've been watching this bit by bit.

02:30Every moment. Yeah. Everybody at the elementary school, there was a big watch party.

02:34Heard some stuff from our friends and family that people were interested and wondering what's going

02:38on and concerned about our health and all that kind of stuff while we're up there. But I mean,

02:42we were just part of the team doing the job, filling in wherever we could, and then knowing

02:47that there's rotational flights and we will be coming home eventually on a rotational flight.

02:51So no, I don't think we were aware to the degree, pretty honored and humbled by the fact of when we

02:59came home, like, wow, there's there are a lot of people who are interested, very thankful,

03:04very amazed that we could hopefully be one positive element to bring people together.

03:09When we're up there operating in space, you don't feel the politics. You don't feel any of that.

03:15It's focused strictly on mission. And and and, you know, if I step back a little bit to the

03:19question before, Butch and Sonny talk up here, they make it sound like, you know, well, you know,

03:25everybody figured out what they could do with us. The reality is they are highly skilled,

03:30very technically competent. And it took everything I had on every day to keep up with them as they're

03:36moving along. So they were more than just gap fillers on the station. They were productive,

03:41pushing the station mission forward. And Sonny was the station commander. So she was calling

03:46the shots. So you get in that environment, that operational environment, the politics,

03:54they don't they don't make it up there. Yeah. You know, it's, again, an honor that actually

03:59people were paying attention. And I'm very thankful that people are paying attention.

04:03You know, sometimes good news, bad news. It's just news. And it's good for space exploration

04:09is. And that's what we're all about. You know, our mission, of course, building and working on

04:14the International Space Station was just awesome. And we all had the opportunity to do that. But we

04:17also have bigger goals of exploring our solar system, going back to the moon, going on to Mars

04:23and to get people understanding that it is hard. It is difficult. And what we do up there

04:29is really awesome. And I think at least that we had a little bit of that that came with

04:35with the interest in this mission. And if we can perpetuate that and tell people a little

04:40bit more and have the opportunity, the forum to do that, I'm very thankful for that.

04:44We entered the Earth's atmosphere and came back to gravity. Can you talk specifically

04:50about any kind of weird either sensations or experiences that you've had dealing with that?

04:55Yes, I would say it was difficult. It wasn't in the preparation. But in my family,

05:00we talk about these possibilities. We discussed all of this. We never said we were going to be

05:05gone for nine months, but it turned out that way. But the discussions we had and it's not

05:09just discussions prior to the mission launch. This is the way we've trained our daughters

05:13from the time they were born, because I am you know, their dad is in a unique

05:18occupation, right? This is not the norm leaving the planet. And they understand that.

05:24I'm not as young as I used to be. But I was stronger on space station doing more weight

05:31and more reps on exercises that I have in my entire life. Because this group of professionals

05:38work to get us stronger and stronger. We're trying to minimize muscle atrophy,

05:42minimize our bone loss. So if we go to other planets, the moon and other planets,

05:47in the foreseeable future, that we will be able to function when we get there. It's a whole science

05:52built around this, this team of individuals that are working to help us better understand human

05:58physiology, and what zero gravity does to it and how we can mitigate the effects of the bone loss

06:03and the muscle muscle atrophy. So yeah, it's an adjustment when we get back. And they're here,

06:08they're here right with us from day one when we landed, ready to see one evaluate us and see how

06:14we're doing and then work on a protocol to get us back. And like I said, I sneakily went for a run

06:20yesterday. But that's all as a result of their hard work. Yeah. Oh, yeah, I wanted to hug my

06:24husband and hug my dogs. And I'll say that order in that order. But maybe maybe not. No, I'm just

06:30joking. But of course, food, I you know, something that's just like, for home for me, like something

06:35that is very, you know, remind you of home and I had my father was vegetarian. So I had a good

06:40grilled cheese sandwich when I got home from history of being active in athletes. But with

06:44that being, well, I'm back. First and foremost, we were always coming back. And I think people

06:51need to know that. And we're back to actually, you know, share our story with so many people,

06:55because, you know, it's, it's it like, like you all mentioned, it's slightly unique, and there's

07:01some lessons learned to it. And part of that is just resilience and being able to take a turn that

07:07was unexpected and make the best of it. And I think that is the biggest thing that I want to,

07:13you know, pass down, particularly to kids who think that their, you know, their life should

07:17be the straight arrow to where you what you want to do, and you're just going to get there. Well,

07:21you know, sometimes it takes some turns, some rights and some lefts, and you just keep focused

07:25on your goal and other doors might be open for you. So I think that's the biggest message.

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