NASA or Boeing: who is responsible? Wilmore and Williams reflect on Starliner setback

Wilmore and Williams reflect on Starliner setback.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams said that they hold themselves partly responsible for the issues during their space mission, which turned from a short sprint into a prolonged marathon.

The duo was ferried home by SpaceX after spending over nine months at the International Space Station, filling in for Boeing, which had failed to bring them back last year.

In their first news conference since returning to Earth, Wilmore and Williams expressed surprise at the public’s interest but insisted that they were merely doing their jobs, prioritising the mission over personal concerns and even family.

Wilmore took responsibility for some of the problems that occurred with Boeing’s Starliner test flight.

"There were some issues, of course, that happened with Starliner. There were some issues, of course, that happened that prevented us from returning on Starliner. And I'll start with me. There were questions that I, as the commander of the spacecraft, should have asked, and I did not. At the time I didn't know I needed to, and maybe you could call that hindsight, but I'll start and point the finger and I'll blame me. I could have asked some questions and the answers to those questions could have turned the tide. So blame – that's a term, I don't like that term, but certainly there's responsibility throughout all the programs. And certainly you can you can start with me. Responsibility with Boeing? Yes. Responsibility with NASA? Yes. All the way up and down the chain. We all are responsible. We all own this," he told reporters.

Despite the setback, both astronauts expressed confidence in Starliner’s future. “Because we're going to rectify all the issues that we encountered. We're going to fix them. We're going to make it work,” Wilmore said, adding that he would fly again in “a heartbeat.”

Williams shared similar sentiments, noting that Starliner has “a lot of capability” and emphasised her desire to see it succeed. “We're all in,” she said.

The astronauts are set to meet with Boeing leadership on Wednesday to discuss the problems with the flight and how to resolve them. “It's not for pointing fingers,” Wilmore explained. “It's just to make the path clearer going forward.”

Wilmore and Williams ended up spending 286 days in space — 278 days more than originally planned. They were supposed to return after an eight-day test mission on Boeing's Starliner, but technical failures, including a thruster issue and helium leak, delayed their return. Their mission was extended as engineers worked to determine the next steps, and NASA ultimately deemed Starliner too risky to bring them back, transferring them to SpaceX. However, delays in launching their replacements further stretched their mission duration.

(With AP input)