Starliner Astronaut: ‘We’re Running Out of Time’ to Return to Boeing Spacecraft

(CNN) – The two NASA astronauts who piloted the first crewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule — and who remained on the space station as the craft returned to Earth — took questions on Friday for the first time in weeks.

Butch Wilmore, a Tennessee native and former Navy test pilot, said during the conversation that he and his colleague, Sonny Williams, were “very fortunate” to have the ability to stay on the International Space Station (ISS) for a few more months and return using a backup option: flying in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft.

“There have been many cases in the past where there were no other options,” Wilmore said.

However, he added that he believes the astronauts and NASA and Boeing teams on the ground could have eventually reached consensus in their analysis of the Starliner problems if they had had more time.

“I think the data may have arrived. I think we could have gotten to the point where we could have returned to the Starliner. “But we ran out of time.”

Wilmore added that time constraints are a fact of life aboard the space station, which follows a busy schedule as visiting spacecraft drop off rotating crews of astronauts and cargo ships.

Before returning Starliner to an empty home on September 7, NASA noted the need to free up the docking port where the craft was docked to make room for other spacecraft.

During an August 24 press conference, NASA officials also noted that Boeing disagreed with some of the space agency’s risk assessments.

“There was a little bit of disagreement (between NASA and Boeing) about the level of risk,” said Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager. “It depends on how you assess the risk… We did it a little differently with our crew than Boeing did.”

The Starliner, which suffered a series of helium leaks and propulsion problems on its way to the International Space Station in June, returned to Earth without major problems, though officials reported an additional problem with one of the craft’s thrusters, or small engines used to keep the craft oriented in space. But the problem didn’t affect the overall landing.

“I was so happy that he made it home safely,” Williams said Friday of Starliner’s return. “The whole crew woke up at 3 a.m., put it on our iPads, and watched it land.”

Williams added that the teams on the ground and in space “made the right decisions.”

“It’s risky, that’s the way it goes in this business,” he added.

Adapting to a mission for several months

Williams and Wilmore launched aboard Starliner in early June, expecting to spend only about eight days in the orbiting lab. They will now return home on a SpaceX mission scheduled to return in 2025.

Asked if he was having difficulty adjusting to the prospect of waiting months to return home, Wilmore said Friday: “I wouldn’t worry about it. I mean, it’s no use at all, so my transition was — it might not have been immediate — but it was pretty close.”

Williams said he misses his family and pets. She also confided in CNN’s Kristen Fisher that she’s disappointed to miss some family events this fall and winter, but added: “This is my happy place. I love being out here in space. It’s just fun. You know, every day you do something that’s work, in quotes, you can do it the other way around. You can do it on the side, so it adds a little bit of a different perspective.”

Wilmore said he and Williams will participate in discussions with NASA and Boeing about what needs to be changed to get the Starliner spacecraft back on track.

“Obviously when you have problems like we had, there are some changes that need to be made. Boeing agrees with that,” Wilmore said. “We all agree with that.”

The crewed Starliner test flight was meant to “push the boundaries… and when you do things with a spacecraft that haven’t been done before, like Starliner, you’re going to find some things,” he added. “In this case, we found some things that we weren’t comfortable bringing back to Starliner.”