'Stranded' NASA astronaut recalls moment he thought he was going to die in space
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Shawn Ryan Show via YouTube
Barry 'Butch' Wilmore, who was 'stranded' in space for a period of nine months, has recalled the moment he didn't think he'd make it.
Wilmore and Sunita Williams were initially launched into space from Cape Canaveral Space Force on June 5 2024 in what was meant to be an eight-day mission.
However, the pair ended up spending a staggering 286 days on the International Space Station (ISS).
Due to technical issues with their aircraft, Wilmore and Williams were forced to spend all that time in space before they were brought home aboard the SpaceX Dragon aircraft in March last year.
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A year on from their return, Wilmore has been writing a memoir to document his unique experience during that unexpected stay on the ISS.
Writing in Stuck in Space: An Astronauts Hope Through the Unexpected, the NASA astronaut detailed the moment he thought he was going to die.
"I cannot even begin to convey the feeling of dread that momentarily overwhelms my emotions. It’s simply unbelievable," he penned, as per People.
It was remembering the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster that saw seven people killed which had Wilmore fearing the worse.
He added in his recently released book: "I think of the partially charred helmet and boot I retrieved from that East Texas field. The pieces had fallen tens of thousands of feet. Certainly all of those thoughts race through your mind. But you compartmentalize and get rid of them because you got to focus on what’s going on at the moment."
Williams sat down with 60 Minutes Australia in October 2025 to discuss the trip and the moment she realized things weren't quite right.
"We knew on the second day, before we started losing thrusters, that things were not acting correctly," she explained.
"The spacecraft was working hard to keep us on the trajectory of the space station, but it wasn't acting like it was designed to."
The astronauts started to lose its thrusters and 'one after another', which is when they knew 'something was absolutely wrong'.
She recalled "I think both of us were like, 'does that sound right?' Because you can tell when things are working by the way they sound, right? Like your car is the same way.
"If it sounds a little different, you're sort of questioning yourself, like 'am I hearing something?'"
Wilmore, meanwhile, maintained he wasn't going to get frustrated by the constant delays to a safe return home.
He told the New York Times: "It’s wonderful enjoyment. It’s fun. This is not an easy business that we’re taking part in. It is very difficult. Human spaceflight is tough and sometimes you run into situations that are unexpected and we found ourselves in one."