Experienced Boeing Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are stuck in space, and will not be returning home until February. The two have an extensive space history, and their families believe the decision to keep them there was ultimately best for their safety.
What was supposed to be an eight-day trip to space has turned into a months-long one. NASA officials announced over the weekend that the troubled spacecraft would return to Earth without them.
Wilmore and Williams have been on the International Space Station since engineers discovered helium leaks and issues involving thrusters shortly after Boeing's CST-100 Starliner docked, which prompted NASA and Boeing to investigate.
Wilmore and Williams are no strangers to outer space. According to his official NASA bio, this is Wilmore's third mission on the International Space Station, and he had 178 days in space from his previous two missions. His most recent trip concluded in March 2015.
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Previously, Wilmore served in the Navy, including deployments during Operations Desert Storm, Desert Shield and Southern Watch that included flights over Iraq.
While Wilmore is in space, his wife Deanna and their daughters Daryn and Logan live in Texas.
"You just sort of have to roll with it and expect the unexpected," Deanna told WVLT-TV.
The good news? Wilmore's family gets to FaceTime him several times most days while he is on the International Space Station.
"It is so cool, he gives us a lot of Earth views, I especially like seeing the sunset," Daryn told the TV station.
While the Wilmore family understands that family events and memories are being missed, they are used to the uncertainty and stress of his profession.
"He just takes it that the Lord is in control and since the Lord is in control, he’s content where he is," Deanna said.
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Like Wilmore, Williams is also on her third mission on the ISS, according to her NASA bio, with 322 days in space before the current mission. She, too, served in the Navy before becoming an astronaut, having served in a Navy helicopter squadron overseas during the military buildup for the Gulf War.
She is married to Michael Williams, a retired U.S. marshal and former naval aviator who is tending to their dogs back home in Houston, The Associated Press reported.
The couple enjoys "hanging out with their dogs, working out, working on houses, working on cars, working on airplanes, hiking and camping," NASA says.
Michael previously told The Wall Street Journal that space is his wife's "happy place."
Her widowed mother often frets about her job, according to the AP.
"I’m her baby daughter, so I think she’s always worried," Williams said before launching.
"I'm very happy that they decided not to send her down right away," mom Bonnie Pandya told TMZ. "There were 2 accidents with the shuttle already. I sure as heck wouldn't want that to happen to my daughter... or anybody else! So, better safe than sorry."
Wilmore and Williams are now set to return with a SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon mission, which will not launch before Sept. 24 as that mission needs to reduce its crew of four to two to make room for the stranded astronauts, who are expected to return in February 2025. The Crew-9 mission will carry additional cargo as well as Dragon-specific spacesuits for Wilmore and Williams, as their Boeing spacesuits are incompatible with the SpaceX spacecraft.
Fox News' Michael Dorgan and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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