Stranded astronauts say space is ‘happy place’ – but admit ‘tough times’
Two astronauts who are set to be stuck in space for eight months have said the International Space Station is now their “happy place” but admitted to “tough times”.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams said in a press conference on Friday that it was hard to watch their Boeing Starliner capsule return to Earth without them last week – but said they do not feel let down by the company.
The pair expected to be in space for eight days but will remain there until 2025 after NASA determined the problem-plagued capsule posed too much risk for them to return to Earth.
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore before lift-off in June. Pic: AP
The two Starliner test pilots – both retired Navy captains and longtime NASA astronauts – will now be staying at the space station until late February.
“That’s how it goes in this business,” said Ms Williams, adding that “you have to turn the page and look at the next opportunity”.
Mr Wilmore said: “It’s been quite an evolution over the last three months, we’ve been involved from the beginning through all the processes of assessing our spacecraft.
“And it was trying at times. There were some tough times all the way through.”
Ms Williams said that the transition to station life was “not that hard” since both had completed previous stints there.
“This is my happy place. I love being up here in space,” she said.
The astronauts, pictured on board the ISS in June, said they do not feel let down by Boeing. Pic: AP
Mr Wilmore said he was “on board” with “changes that need to be made” at Boeing.
“Obviously, when you have issues like we’ve had, there’s some changes that need to be made.
“Boeing’s on board with that. We’re all on board with that.”
Read more: How will the astronauts survive until 2025?
He added: “When you push the edge of the envelope again and you do things with spacecraft that have never been done before, just like Starliner, you’re going to find some things.”
The pair also said they will vote in November’s US elections.
Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams are now fully-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, raising the station population to 12 – a near record.
Ms Williams will soon take over as station commander.
The pair will have to wait until next year for a SpaceX capsule to bring them back to Earth. That spacecraft is due to launch later this month with a reduced crew of two, with two empty seats for the stranded astronauts for the return leg.
Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams also said they appreciated all the prayers and well wishes from Earth.
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Mr Wilmore revealed he will miss out on family milestones including his youngest daughter’s final year of high school.
Their Starliner capsule marked the first Boeing spaceflight with astronauts. It endured a series of thruster failures and helium leaks before arriving at the space station on 6 June.
It landed safely in the New Mexico desert earlier this month, but Boeing’s path forward in NASA’s commercial crew programme remains uncertain.
The space agency hired SpaceX and Boeing as an orbital taxi service a decade ago after the shuttles retired. SpaceX has been flying astronauts since 2020.
Seven people have been killed and dozens are injured after two bridges collapsed in Russia overnight.
A train derailed after a bridge collapsed on to it in the Bryansk region, killing the driver and six others.
Some 69 people were injured in the crash, with the train travelling from Moscow to Klimov at the time.
Earlier, local authorities blamed “illegal interference” for the incident.
Later, a bridge collapsed in Russia’s Kursk region while a freight train was passing over it.
Local officials said one of the train’s drivers was injured in the crash.
The scene of the train crash in Kursk region. Pic: RIA/Telegram
Russia’s Baza Telegram channel, which often publishes information from sources in the security services and law
enforcement, reported, without providing evidence, that the bridge in Bryansk was blown up, according to initial information.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Since the start of the war that Russia launched more than three years ago, there have been continued cross-border shelling, drone strikes, and covert raids by Ukrainian forces into the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions that border Ukraine.
Pic: Moscow Transport Prosecutor’s Office
Bryansk regional governor Alexander Bogomaz said: “Everything is being done to provide all necessary assistance to the victims.”
Emergency workers are at the scene of the train derailment, attempting to pull survivors from the wreckage.
Russia’s federal road transportation agency said the destroyed bridge passed above the railway tracks where the train was travelling.
Images from the scene show passenger cars ripped apart and lying amid fallen concrete from the collapsed bridge.
Other footage on social media appeared to be taken from inside vehicles which narrowly avoided driving onto the bridge before it collapsed.
World
Israel confirms Hamas chief Mohammad Sinwar was killed – as group makes counter-offer on ceasefire
Israel has confirmed its forces have killed Hamas’s Gaza chief, Mohammad Sinwar, as US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff called the group’s counter-offer on a ceasefire “totally unacceptable”.
Mohammad Sinwar became the leader of the militant group in the Gaza Strip after his older brother Yahya Sinwar was killed last October.
In a statement, the Israeli military said it had killed Sinwar on 13 May, and was the target of a strike on a hospital in southern Gaza.
Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied his death, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told parliament on Wednesday that he had been “eliminated”.
A handout image of Mohammed Sinwar from December 2023. Pic: Israeli Army / Reuters
Hamas seeks changes in US ceasefire proposal
It comes as Hamas said it was seeking amendments to a US-proposed ceasefire deal, offering 10 living Israeli hostages and the bodies of 18 in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
On Thursday, the White House said Israel agreed to a 60-day ceasefire proposal, which would see the release of nine living hostages and half of the known hostages who have died over the course of a week.
Israel and Hamas would then continue talks to bring the remaining hostages home, but Israel would retain the right to resume military action in Gaza if talks were to break down.
In a statement about the proposal on Saturday, Hamas said its response “aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to our people in the Strip”.
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Israeli ambassador claims ‘no starvation in Gaza’
Hamas offer ‘totally unacceptable’ – Witkoff
Donald Trump’s special Middle East envoy, Mr Witkoff, said on social media that Hamas’s response is “totally unacceptable and only takes us backwards”.
“Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week,” he added.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim told Reuters that the group has not rejected the proposal but added Mr Witkoff’s response was “unfair” and showed “complete bias” towards Israel.
Israel has not yet responded to Hamas’ counter-offer, but has previously rejected the conditions and demanded the complete disarmament and dismantling of the group.
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Meanwhile, Gaza aid groups have said dozens of World Food Programme (WFP) trucks carrying flour to Gaza bakeries had been hijacked by armed groups and subsequently looted by people.
The WFP added: “After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by.”
Read more:
Last hospital in northern Gaza out of service
How the new Gaza aid system collapsed into chaos
UK will ‘seek to do more if it can’ for Gaza children – Lammy
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Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a “systematic policy of starvation”.
Israel denies operating a policy of starvation and says it is facilitating aid deliveries via the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Instead, it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies.
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