Featured Image Credit: Fox News
Topics: NASA, International Space Station, News, US News
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: NASA, International Space Station, News, US News
Butch Wilmore has shared his thoughts on who he thinks is 'to blame' for his and fellow astronaut Suni Williams' nine-month stay at the International Space Station.
The pair have recently done their first interview since returning to Earth of March 18. Sitting down with Fox News, they were asked who they think is at fault for their extended stay – something which the likes of Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the White House blamed on the Biden administration.
Speaking in a news conference, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said of the debacle: "These two incredible astronauts were only supposed to be up there for eight days, but because of the Biden administration's lack of urgency, they ended up spending nine months in space.
"Joe Biden's lack of courage to act boldly and decisively was a big reason why Butch and Suni did not make it back until [March 18]. But President Trump doesn't waste time."
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Now Wilmore has shared his own thoughts on the matter.
"Is Boeing to blame, are they culpable? Sure," he told Fox News. "Is NASA to blame, are they culpable? Sure. Everybody has a piece in this because it did not come off."
The two NASA astronauts traveled to the ISS in Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, but were unable to come home in it because of technical issues.
Wilmore went on: "There were some shortcomings in tests. There were some shortcomings in preparation, that we did not foresee. Can you point fingers? I don't want to point fingers. I hope nobody wants to point fingers."
He went on to say that rather than placing blame on one person or company in particular, he'd rather they all learn from the ordeal.
"Lets make the future even more productive and better," Wilmore said.
Wilmore also seemingly took some of the blame himself as he said: "There's things that I did not ask that I should have asked.
"I didn't know at the time that I needed to ask, but in hindsight, some of the signals were there."
Elsewhere in their interview, Wilmore and Williams recalled their initial reactions to hearing the news that they were staying at the ISS for much longer than planned.
"My first thought was, we just got to pivot, right?" said Williams. "I was like, ‘OK, let’s make the best of it.’ We planned, we trained that we’d be there for some part of a time, so we were ready to just jump into it and take on the tasks that were given to us."
UNILAD has contacted Boeing and NASA for comment.