Cabo Cañaveral, Florida – The two astronauts of the POT stranded in the International Space Station They are just a few weeks to finally return to Earth after nine months in space.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams must wait until their replacements arrive at the International Space Station next week before they can leave at the end of this month.
They will be joined on their return trip with Spacex two astronauts who traveled on their own in September, along with two empty seats.
In a press conference held on Tuesday, Wilmore said that, although politics is part of life, he did not influence his return or that of Williams, which was advanced a couple of weeks thanks to a change in the Spacex capsules. The President Donald Trump and Elon Musk of Spacex They said at the end of January that they wanted to accelerate the return of the astronauts, blaming the previous administration.
However, Williams, in response to a question, expressed his disagreement with Musk’s recent proposal to get rid of the space station in two years, instead of waiting until his exorbitation, scheduled by NASA by 2031. He highlighted all the scientific research carried out in the laboratory in orbit.
“This place is working. It is really amazing, so, in my opinion, we are at our best, ”said Williams, who has been in the space station three times. “I would think that, probably, this is not the right time to give up and terminate the matter.”
Williams said he was impatient to meet his laborer dogs. He added that The most difficult part of the stay, which lasted unexpectedly, was the waiting of their relatives at home.
“It has been a roller coaster for them, probably a little more than for us,” he said. “We are here. We have a mission. We are simply doing what we do every day, and every day it is interesting because we are in space and it’s a lot of fun. ”
Wilmore and Williams expected to be out only a week when they took off last June, aboard the new Boeing Starliner capsule, which made its debut with a crew after years of delay. The Starliner had so many problems to reach the space station that NASA determined that it was too dangerous to transport human beings and returned empty.
His return home was further delayed for the additional time that was required to complete the new Spacex capsule that, supposedly, had to move to his replacements.
Last month, NASA announced that the next crew would travel in a used capsule, advancing takeoff to March 12. The two crews will spend approximately one week together aboard the space station before Wilmore and Williams start with Nick Hague, from NASA, and Alexander Gorbunov, of the Russian space agency.
Wilmore and Williams – Retired Marine and recurrent space travelers – have insisted that they are healthy and remain committed to the mission as necessary. Together, they made a space walk in January.
They will wear generic flight suits from Spacex for the return trip, and not the personalized costumes that carry their names, because their trip home in a dragon capsule was not planned. That seems good, although Wilmore hinted that he could use a pen to write his name in his suit.
“We are just Butch and Suni,” said Williams. “Now, everyone knows who we are.”