Two NASA astronauts set off for an eight-day mission in July 2024, only to spend nine months stranded in space after their Boeing capsule malfunctioned.
Now, commander Butch Wilmore has revealed the terrifying moment he feared he and crewmate Sunita Williams would never make it home.
He was struggling to control Starliner while approaching the International Space Station (ISS) as the capsule’s thrusters failed.
Four thrusters had failed, and a fifth would follow, while others were producing less thrust. At the controls, he felt the spacecraft becoming harder to maneuver and heard its thrusters firing rapidly, which sounded like a ‘machine gun.’
Unable to explain the failures or know whether the thrusters could be restored, Wilmore focused on reaching the ISS. But he feared that if they could not dock, their damaged spacecraft might not get them home alive.
‘We got to get there. If we can’t get there, I’m not sure we can make it back to Earth like this,’ he said during an interview on The Jeremy Boreing Show.
‘So, there’s that thought of not surviving, right?’
Even if they reached safety, Wilmore said he had already concluded they would need another way home: ‘We ain’t coming home in the spacecraft.’
Commander Butch Wilmore has revealed the terrifying moment he feared he and crewmate Sunita Williams would never make it home
Wilmore and Williams launched to the ISS for what was intended to be an eight-day stay.
However, the capsule malfunctioned, making it unsafe for human travel.
Starliner returned autonomously to Earth in September 2024, without crew, and Wilmore and Williams were brought home safely by SpaceX Crew-9 in March 2025.
The pair had largely remained silent on what happened during their time in the capsule before docking with the ISS.
But Wilmore’s latest interview has provided a closer look into the terrifying experience he and Williams endured.
Wilmore said four of the eight thrusters that pushed Starliner forward had failed, leaving him unable to fully control the capsule’s movements.
A spacecraft must be able to turn, tilt and roll, as well as move forward and backward, up and down, and side to side, a range of movement known as ‘six degrees of freedom.’
‘We’ve now lost one of our degrees of freedom,’ he said during the interview with Boreing.
He was struggling to control Starliner while approaching the International Space Station (ISS) as the capsule’s thrusters failed
Wilmore and Williams launched to the ISS for what was intended to be an eight-day stay. However, the capsule malfunctioned, making it unsafe for human travel. Above is Williams after splashing down on March 18, 2025
‘Never happened before in the history of human space flight. And we now know that we had a reduction in thrust on other thrusters.
‘All axes were impacted. I’m on the controls. I can feel it. It’s nothing like it was the day before as far as maintaining control of the spacecraft. It even sounds different.’
He and Williams then heard what sounded like a machine gun firing off, adding more stress to the situation, leaving him to question if they could make it to the ISS.
NASA had maintained that the Boeing Starliner was capable of bringing the pair back to Earth after it malfunctioned. However, Wilmore admitted he knew it was not possible even before he and Williams docked on the ISS.
‘If we get there safely, if we can dock, we ain’t coming home in the spacecraft,’ he said. [We’re] going to be there a while.
‘People have asked me, “How did you feel when they told you you weren’t coming back?” I’m like, “I knew that before we ever docked.”‘
The official decision to bring the astronauts back on Starliner was not given until a month later.
‘The whole time we knew the chances were slim to none, regardless of what we found out, just because you can’t inspect the thrusters,’ Wilmore said.
Wilmore revealed that he knew the capsule was not taking him and Williams back to Earth even before they docked. Above is Wilmore after returning to Earth in March 2025
‘You can’t go out on a spacewalk and check them out. They’re not built that way. So, there’s no way we could really know for sure what the problem was.’
Wilmore also described his frustration at learning details about Starliner that he had not previously known.
‘I was frustrated for some of the processes that I wasn’t aware of, some of the decisions I wasn’t aware of,’ he said.
He referred to matters he had discussed earlier, but did not identify the specific processes or decisions, or who was responsible for them, in this portion of the interview.
Wilmore distinguished those frustrations from his feelings about remaining aboard the International Space Station.
‘But from the situation of being on space station, content, absolutely content,’ he said.
He credited his Christian faith with helping him accept his circumstances, while acknowledging that it did not eliminate challenges or anxiety.
‘And I’m only content because the Lord has imparted his word into me and I know it. And his word is true,’ he said.
Wilmore also acknowledged that he had experienced moments of fear during the ordeal. ‘Frustrated at times, maybe a little afraid once or twice,’ he said.
He explained that he had to compartmentalize that fear to prevent it from interfering with his ability to carry out his responsibilities.
‘That’s not to say it’s not there, but you got to put it in the right spot and go forward.’
