{"id":86515,"date":"2025-10-18T15:04:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T15:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/86515\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T15:04:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T15:04:16","slug":"terrifying-moment-two-astronauts-knew-they-would-be-stranded-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/86515\/","title":{"rendered":"Terrifying moment two astronauts knew they would be stranded in space"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams have a tale that might just rival any Hollywood interstellar odyssey.<\/p>\n

Better known as “Butch” and “Suni”, the pair embarked in June 2024 on what was supposed to be a relatively short eight-day mission to the International Space Station to test Boeing’s Starliner on the first crewed flight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, thruster failures and helium leaks left them stranded in space for more than nine months.<\/p>\n

\"TerrifyingButch and Suni spent more than nine months stranded in space. (Nine)<\/p>\n

Their extended space odyssey captivated the world, as a political war of words erupted about when and how these two test pilots would hitch a ride back to Earth.<\/p>\n

Six months after returning home, Butch and Suni have spoken to 60 Minutes, revealing the horror moment they nearly drifted into space.<\/p>\n

What went wrong?<\/p>\n

The Boeing Starliner mission had already been delayed for several years, after two previous uncrewed flights in 2019 and 2022 suffered technical problems.<\/p>\n

But in June 2025, on its first manned test flight, it was a textbook takeoff towards the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

“The first day was awesome,” Suni told 60 Minutes.<\/p>\n

\"TerrifyingPrior to the mission, Suni had piloted more than 30 space and air crafts. (Nine)<\/p>\n

“When we woke up the second day, we were all excited about a rendezvous to the space station. We could see the space station.”<\/p>\n

But that’s when Suni – who’s handled the controls of 30 different air and spacecraft – knew something didn’t feel right. She and Butch couldn’t manoeuvre the starliner.<\/p>\n

There was something wrong with the spacecraft’s thrusters.<\/p>\n

“The spacecraft \u2026 wasn’t acting like it was designed to,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Soon thereafter we started losing the thrusters and then one after another, we knew something was absolutely wrong.”<\/p>\n

Despite this, the astronauts remained remarkably calm.<\/p>\n

\"TerrifyingBefore he was a NASA astronaut, Butch was a combat pilot for the US Navy. (Nine)<\/p>\n

Losing thrusters meant Butch had very limited control of the Boeing Starliner. He had to rely on all of his 25 years of experience as a NASA astronaut and a former combat pilot for the US Navy.<\/p>\n

It would be an impossibly nerve-wracking choice – turn around and try to fly back to Earth, or attempt to precariously dock with the space station.<\/p>\n

“We had to dock. And if we didn’t dock, I wasn’t sure in the situation we were in that we could actually even make it back to Earth,” Butch told 60 Minutes.<\/p>\n

“If we could get docked, we knew that’s our safe haven. We would be at least safe for a period of time.”<\/p>\n

It would later be confirmed that helium leaks caused several thrusters to begin failing. It was a situation neither astronaut had ever been in before.<\/p>\n

From bad to worse<\/p>\n

Making matters terrifyingly worse, there were times Butch even had to let go of the controls – and their fate with them – as mission control tried to remotely reboot the Starliner’s thrusters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite a rapidly deteriorating situation, Butch said he didn’t allow himself to think about the worst case scenario – that he and Suni may never return to Earth.<\/p>\n

“You wanna survive \u2026 we were focused on what we need to do \u2026 which was get to the space station,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Terrifying There were moments Butch was forced to let go of controls as mission control attempted to reboot the craft\u2019s thrusters. (Nine)<\/p>\n

It was a sentiment shared by Suni.<\/p>\n

“I think the conversation with us was more of like, this is a little precarious situation we’re in here and let’s take this one bite, one step at a time,” she said.<\/p>\n

It must have felt like an eternity, but it was those quick decisions that meant Butch and Suni were eventually able to safely dock.<\/p>\n

Once they were greeted on board with hugs and cheers, as stoic as they are, they couldn’t hide their relief.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Astronauts or political pawns?<\/p>\n

As the excitement settled, Butch and Suni both knew they had no idea how – or when – they’d possibly get home.<\/p>\n

As it turned out, that unknown in the race to save them was perfect fodder for a presidential spat.<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk blamed former US leaser Joe Biden for abandoning them in space.<\/p>\n

“They got left in space,” Trump said.<\/p>\n

Despite heated exchanges on Earth, Butch told 60 Minutes he couldn’t afford to feel abandoned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TerrifyingDespite heated exchanges on Earth, Butch told 60 Minutes he couldn’t afford to feel abandoned.\u00a0 (Nine)<\/p>\n

“Didn’t pay attention,” he said, when asked about the accusations being thrown around at home.<\/p>\n

“Knew it was happening, but, you know, I’ve gotta fix the toilet today or I gotta work on this science.”<\/p>\n

Suni agreed, telling 60 Minutes she doesn’t think space is political.<\/p>\n

“People weren’t gonna be pushed around based on any comments on either side,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s serious business, and I think everybody really understands that and \u2026\u00a0 takes their job very seriously and does their job very professionally.”<\/p>\n

As NASA – and the politicians – scrambled to find Butch and Suni a ride home, the pair conducted space walks, science experiments, enjoyed the amazing view and even took the ultimate “selfie”.<\/p>\n

\"TerrifyingSelfies don\u2019t get much better than this (Nine)Back on Earth<\/p>\n

As fun as it was, getting them home wasn’t just a win for the astronauts, but also Musk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Boeing’s failure was the best ad for his company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He made sure there was spare room on his next planned SpaceX mission. After nine months on the International Space Station, Butch and Suni finally had seats home.<\/p>\n

After a 17-hour journey back to Earth – complete with a welcome party of dolphins – Suni and Butch were space castaways no more.<\/p>\n

\"ButchButch and Suni’s return to Earth was heralded by a playful pod of dolphins. (Nine)<\/p>\n

While it was an undeniably joyous return, the extended mission wasn’t without consequences. The trip had taken a toll on Butch and Suni’s bodies. <\/p>\n

“Gravity is not your friend when you first get back,” Butch told 60 Minutes.<\/p>\n

“When you come back from space after many months, you’re anaemic \u2026 it really noticeably affects your stamina.”<\/p>\n

Six months on, and with some intense rehabilitation, both Butch and Suni are slowly adjusting to life with gravity.<\/p>\n

And despite their harrowing predicament, neither astronaut is prepared to lay blame.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TerrifyingSix months on, and with some intense rehabilitation, both Butch and Suni are slowly adjusting to life with gravity. (Nine)<\/p>\n

“Looking back and pointing fingers is not necessarily beneficial,” Butch said.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most surprising of all, Butch and Suni haven’t been turned off from space – or the Starliner.<\/p>\n

“You know, if in a couple years, once we see that we’ve done what we needed to do to solve these issues, and we’ve shook out the spacecraft a little bit more, yeah, I’d get back on it,” Suni told 60 Minutes.<\/p>\n

“It’s a great spacecraft to fly. It’s a little sports car.”<\/p>\n

Watch the full episode of 60 Minutes on 9Now.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams have a tale that might just rival any Hollywood interstellar odyssey.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-86515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}