In this image provided by NASA, NASA astronauts, from left, Suni Williams, Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Mike Fincke watch as a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41, Wednesday, May 18, 2022, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Boeing's Orbital Flight Test-2, slated to launch Thursday morning, May 19, will be Starliner's second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.
Two American astronauts stranded on the International Space Station who had their eight-day mission turn into an eight-month stay pushed back against allegations that they were "abandoned" in space.
In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday, astronaut Barry Wilmore dismissed claims of being abandoned as rhetoric.
"We don't feel abandoned. We don't feel stuck," he said. "We don't feel stranded. I understand why others may think that. We come prepared. We come committed. That is what your human spaceflight program is. It prepares for any and all contingencies that we can conceive of. And we prepare for those."
Starliner, the craft that was expected to return Wilmore and Suni Williams to Earth, experienced problems with its thrusters as well as helium leaks as it approached the space station in June.
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Because of the issues, NASA decided not to have Wilmore and Williams return on the Starliner. After a six-hour remotely controlled flight, the empty capsule landed in New Mexico on September 6.
Instead of returning on the Starliner, SpaceX will bring Williams and Wilmore home in March. SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk, who is a close ally of President Donald Trump.
Musk's SpaceX was contracted to pick up the astronauts prior to President Trump returning to the White House.
"I have just asked Elon Musk and SpaceX to 'go get' the two brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration," Trump wrote on Jan. 28. "They have been waiting for many months on the Space Station. Elon will soon be on his way. Hopefully, all will be safe. Good luck, Elon!!!"
Both Wilmore and Williams have participated in long-duration trips to space in the past, and they both told Cooper they were prepared to do it again.
"We have a cycle of a period of time where those things take place," Wilmore said regarding travel to and from the Space Station. "And to alter that cycle sends ripple effects all the way down the chain. We would never expect to come back just special for us or anyone unless it was a medical issue or something really, really out of the ordinary. So we need to come back and keep the normal cycle going."
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During the extended stay, Williams and Wilmore have participated in numerous experiments and spacewalks while at the station. For instance, the astronauts have been experimenting with Astrobees.
"They actually can come off the wall and fly around," Williams said. "Huge opportunities for people to test out guidance, navigation and control on a, quote-unquote, spacecraft in microgravity inside here. So we have companies, universities, students all flying these Astrobees around at different times. Some of them are actually even grabbing onto other satellites or other pieces that we might have floating around, and that might help us clean up space debris."