Despite becoming known as the astronauts who were “stranded” in space, Williams and Wilmore have repeatedly said they enjoyed their extended time living and working at the orbiting outpost.
And when SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump made unsubstantiated claims that the Biden administration held up the flight back to Earth for political reasons, both astronauts carefully stayed out of the fray.
In a pre-departure news briefing from the space station earlier this month, Wilmore said they had “respect and admiration” for the president and “the utmost respect for Mr. Musk.”
In the Monday interview with Fox News, Wilmore said he wasn’t looking to place blame on how the events unfolded.
“I don’t want to point fingers,” he said. “I hope nobody wants to point fingers. We don’t want to look back and say, ‘shame, shame, shame.’ We want to look forward and say: Let’s rectify what we’ve learned, and let’s make the future even more productive and better. That’s that’s the way that I look at it — I think the way the nation should look at it.”
Williams called the Starliner test flight a “dream assignment,” adding that she was eager to fly a brand new spacecraft for the first time — especially given her background as a test pilot.
“This is really the cherry on top,” she said.
Williams has said, however, that her longer-than-expected mission in space was likely much harder for her family and loved ones.
Shortly after his return, Wilmore’s daughter had shared on TikTok her excitement over finally being reunited with her father after nine months.
