Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who made the famous test flight of a Boeing Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station and have been stuck aboard since their arrival on June 6, are making the most of their time there. They helped with experiments, frosted Christmas cookies in microgravity, and exercised three hours a day to prevent loss of bone density and muscle mass.
Its return was first postponed until September, but NASA wisely decided to return its troubled Starliner spacecraft without a crew. It was then delayed until February, when a new crew was due to arrive. Now, NASA has decided to send the new crew. not before than at the end of March.
Not that Williams and Wilmore aren't resilient spaceflight veterans. They can handle this season. Other astronauts have spent a couple of hundred days on the space station. But this was a planned 10-day excursion that will now last almost 10 months, if not longer. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we will have missed Earth's summer, fall, and winter, and probably the beginning of spring in 2025.
Think of all the cultural milestones since June that you couldn't be a part of on Earth.
They couldn't make it to the final leg of Taylor Swift's Eras tour through Europe, then Florida, New Orleans, Indianapolis and finally Canada. Being the outer space travelers that they are, a trip to Europe from their homes in the United States would have seemed quick.
They missed the birth of Moo Deng, the endangered pygmy hippopotamus calf, whose adorableness and plumpness made her a viral sensation far beyond her zoo in Thailand. Maybe they saw it on an electronic device. (They have Wi-Fi.) But did they also catch the equally sensational Haggis pygmy hippopotamus, born in late October at Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland?
They were not there to see President Biden withdraw from the presidential race in July and his Vice President, Kamala Harris, run, making her the first woman of color from a major party to be nominated for president. But they were spared the endless analysis and political ads on television. It's not like they missed the actual election: they still got to vote from space! Texas allows NASA astronauts to do that. (They both live in Texas).
They didn't participate in the “Brat” summer that singer Charli XCX created, declaring Harris to be a “brat,” part cool girl, part tough girl. But if Williams and Wilmore couldn't discover it from outer space, they shouldn't feel bad. Most Earthly adults, even with unlimited access to all the fads, never figured out exactly what “brat” meant.
They missed the Summer Olympics in Paris with its cinematic opening projected all over the city, beautiful even when it was raining. They missed the Dodgers winning the World Series with the phenomenon Shohei Ohtani.
They did not have the opportunity to see “Wicked” at the premiere in a movie theater and sing along with the fans.
Recently, while they were still in space, they missed Jimmy Carter, who turned 100 in October and died last month, making him the longest-living American president and one of the most admired for his work after leaving office. post. He was a negotiator, human rights advocate and creator of affordable housing – his own version of an Eras tour, which lasted decades.
Some events they missed were more personal. Williams turned 59 in space, so if her husband and friends planned a party, she didn't attend. Wilmore hasn't been on Earth for the first half of her daughters' school year: one is a senior in high school and the other is a sophomore in college.
Of course, many pains and sorrows were also lost on Earth. And no doubt, even if you've been there for months, space still amazes you (when you're not trying to fix the space station toilet). But our New Year's wish for Williams and Wilmore is that they get home this spring in time to see the cherry blossoms in Washington, DC, the jacarandas in Los Angeles, or whatever harbinger of the coming season inspires them.
