Two NASA astronauts who have been stuck on the International Space Station since June 2024 have said they "do not feel like castaways". Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams originally planned to go to space for just eight days but got stuck on the ISS when their Boeing Starliner spacecraft experienced a myriad of problems. By September, it had returned to Earth without them.
Speaking to NASA leaders in a live video event on Wednesday evening, the pair seemed in good spirits alongside two other astronauts. Responding to a question referencing the Tom Hanks film Cast Away, in which the main character is stranded on a desert island, Ms Williams said she and Mr Wilmore did not feel abandoned.
"Eventually we wanna go home," she added. "We left our families a little while ago. "But we have a lot to do up here and we have to get that stuff done before we go.". The astronauts also said they had not yet been able to see the wildfires spreading in California from the window of the space station due to the path of their orbit. But they would take pictures from the space station when they do pass over the US state to help those on the ground, they added.
Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams, both retired Navy captains, have had their trip home repeatedly delayed. Last month, their scheduled February return was pushed back once more because of problems with the SpaceX rocket that was going to pick them up. The astronauts are waiting for NASA's next crew to arrive at the ISS so they can take their places on the rocket home, along with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
