Stranded astronaut Butch Wilmore reveals harrowing moment he thought he and Suni Williams were going to die in space
What a year it's been, and just think about everything that's happened in the past 12 months. Alongside Pope Leo XIV being elected, we've had Vladimir Putin declaring 'victory' for Russia, the war in Iran, and even Melania Trump releasing her own documentary on Amazon.
It's also been a wild year in the realms of space, with Elon Musk dialling back his famous plans to colonize Mars, all that hype about 3I/ATLAS being an alien mothership, and Donald Trump claiming he'll release all of the government's secret files on aliens. Still, at least the saga with Butch Wimore and Suni Williams is over.
How long were Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams stuck in space?
It's hard to believe it's been a whole year since Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams made it safely back to Earth after their proposed eight-day stay aboard the International Space Station turned into a nightmare 286-day mission. Although the pair have spoken out against the idea that they were 'stranded' in space, the world at large became obsessed with their plight and watching how they were holding up aboard the ISS.
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Both Trump and Musk have been praised for bringing them home after the Biden administration was accused of 'abandoning' them up there, while it's taken until relatively recently for NASA to reveal what actually went wrong with the Boeing Crew Test Flight.
Williams has spoken candidly about who he thinks was to blame, and even though he said he was willing to head back into the cosmos, he and Williams have since announced their retirement. We're not surprised after being stuck in space for 286 days, but it's not just the toll on your body that might've put them off blasting off once again.
In a new interview to honor the anniversary of their return, Wilmore has opened up once again, telling People about the moment he thought he and Williams were going to die up there.
What was Butch Wilmore's scariest moment spending 286 days in space?
We know there are any number of things that can go wrong when you're circling the Earth in a tiny tin can while 400 kilometers up in the air, but according to Wilmore, one specific moment sticks out in his mind. Things went wrong aboard their Starliner capsule as it approached the ISS, with five of the craft's eight aft-facing reaction control system thrusters failing, forcing Wilmore to take manual control.
In the end, four thrusters failed, leading to a total loss of full six degrees of freedom (6DOF) attitude control. Williams would later describe the situation as 'very precarious'.
Writing in his memoir, Stuck in Space, Wilmore discussed the moment he knew he was going to have to dock or the crew would die: "I cannot even begin to convey the feeling of dread that momentarily overwhelms my emotions. It’s simply unbelievable."
Saying he was immediately reminded of 2003's Columbia disaster that killed all seven astronauts, Wilmore admitted images of his wife and daughters flew through his head: "Memories of Deanne and our girls now flash through my thoughts...I think of the partially charred helmet and boot I retrieved from that East Texas field. The pieces had fallen tens of thousands of feet."
Still, he remained calm and reminded us: "Fear is not your ally, it's your enemy in those scenarios."
Thankfully, Wimore managed to steady his nerve, and with NASA waiving its usual protocols to stop damaged vehicles, there were no casualties.
As for what he thinks, now he can look back on that nail-biting moment, Wilmore concluded: "Certainly all of those thoughts race through your mind. But you compartmentalize and get rid of them because you got to focus on what's going on at the moment.”