'Real reason that got us trapped in space'; Veteran astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore open up

WASHINGTON: NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore arrived at the International Space Station on June 5th last year aboard the Starliner spacecraft for an eight-day space mission. However, technical glitches trapped them on the space station for nine months.

Nine months later, the two landed on the coast of Florida on March 18 aboard Elon Musk's SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. Many have cited a variety of reasons for the whole mess. US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk pointed fingers at the previous administration led by Joe Biden for having caused this predicament.

Sunita and Wilmore have finally decided to break the silence over the issue.

"At first, I thought I would make the most of the space trip. But the moment I heard that the return journey had been extended, images of my family came to mind. We don’t think it was Boeing that made the issue worse. During the preparations for the space mission, even I failed to learn and understand certain issues. To some extent, we all are guilty. As the commander of the CFT, it was expected of me to clear doubts and learn about some vital details of the mission. I didn't do it, and I now admit this to the country.

We don't want to point fingers at anyone anymore. Instead, we want to learn from past mistakes and move forward. We are grateful for what Trump and Musk have done to get us back from space.

"I think it's good for our country to have national leaders involved in these things," said Sunita Williams.