The two Starliner test pilots — both retired Navy captains and longtime NASA astronauts — will stay at the orbiting laboratory until late February.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla — Stuck-in-space astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams said Friday it was hard to watch their Boeing capsule return to Earth without them.
“That’s how it goes in this business,” said Williams, adding that “you have to turn the page and look at the next opportunity.”
Wilmore and Williams are now full-fledged station crew members, chipping in on routine maintenance and experiments. They along with seven others on board welcomed a Soyuz spacecraft carrying two Russians and an American earlier this week, temporarily raising the station population to 12, a near record.
The transition to station life was “not that hard” since both had previous stints there, said Williams, who will soon take over as station commander.
“This is my happy place. I love being up here in space,” she said.
The two Starliner …