Astronauts speak out for first time after SpaceX rescue, says Trump, Musk have ‘earned’ their trust

Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams went to the ISS on June 5, 2024 for an 8-day mission and did not come home until March of the following year. Wilmore said he had "no reason not to believe anything they say," referring to the Trump administration, "because they've earned my trust." The White House had said that the Biden administration had abandoned them in space.

"I respect you. I trust you," Wilmore said. "You've given me no reason not to trust you, either one of them. I have no reason not to believe anything they say. Because they've earned my trust. And for that, I am grateful that our national leaders actually are coming in and taking part in our human spaceflight program, which we see is hugely important global significance."

Wilmore blamed himself first as the commander of the crew flight test, saying that he felt that he was "culpable" for not getting enough information and not asking the right questions before the mission launched on June 5. "I'll admit that to the nation," Wilmore said. "There's things that I did not ask that I should have asked. I didn't know at the time that I needed to ask them,' he added. But in hindsight, the signals, some of the signals were there."

But Wilmore also blamed both Boeing, the manufacturer of the ship that was not fit to bring them home after they arrived at the ISS, as well as NASA for unseen "shortcomings in tests and shortcomings in preparations." He went on to say that "Everybody has a piece in this because it did not come off."

Williams said that once they were aboard the ISS, her first thought was "we just gotta pivot" and they got started working with the ISS crew. "If this was the destiny, if our spacecraft was gonna go home based on decisions made and we were gonna be up there until February, I was like 'okay, let's make the best of it.'"

"We were ready to just jump into it and take on the tasks that were given to us," she said.