We Prepared For Any Number of Contingencies: Butch Willmore Reflects on 9-Month Space Stay

Washington: Reflecting on his extended 9-month space journey, NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore on Monday said that Crew-9 mission members were equipped to handle the maximum number of possible contingencies.

Addressing a joint press conference alongside astronaut Sunita Williams and Commander Nick Hague, Wilmore emphasised that Human Space Flight programmes are like a “curvy road”.  

Butch Wilmore on Importance of Contingency Planning Training

“We had a plan. We were in a human space flight but because we were in a human spaceflight we prepared for any number of contingencies because this is a curvy road and you never know where it’s gonna go. We pivoted to all the training we did earlier we will never need it to do and that is what makes Human spaceflight special. Preparing for any number of contingencies is what we do,” Wilmore said. 

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams returned to Earth on March 18 after nine months' stay in the space station. 

Also Read: How SpaceX Dragon Brought Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore Home?

Their eight-day journey in space stretched to nine months due to a glitch in their Boeing spacecraft. 

Wilmore and Williams spent a total of 286 days in space—278 days longer than originally planned. During that time, they orbited Earth 4,576 times and covered a distance of 121 million miles (195 million kilometers) by the time of splashdown.