Nasa astronaut glad to be home after iss flight

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore , the two NASA astronauts who rode to the cosmos months ago on a Boeing Starliner spacecraft, aren't really spending their days pining to return to Earth. The saga of the two spacefarers has garnered no shortage of publicity since June, when Williams and Wilmore first arrived at the International Space Station for the Starliner's maiden crewed voyage.

But while the conversation on Earth has focused on their delayed homecoming — with even President Donald Trump recently weighing in — the astronauts themselves don't seem preoccupied with thoughts of leaving their celestial digs. In an exclusive interview Tuesday with USA TODAY, both Williams and Wilmore said their focus has been on conducting science experiments, participating in spacewalks — and, of course, soaking in as many sunset views of Earth as possible.

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, who holds the U.S. record for longest space flight, about his unexpectedly long stay aboard the International .

Here are four takeaways from the interview, including the Starliner astronauts' thoughts on their extended orbital stay and reflections on those spectacular views of Earth. All seven spacefarers aboard the International Space Station are members of Expedition 72 , including three Russian Cosmonauts. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore weren't supposed to be at the International Space Station beyond a few days in June when they reached the orbital outpost on the inaugural crewed flight test for Boeing's Starliner.

But NASA decided that the troubled spacecraft wasn't up to the task of reliably transporting them back to Earth, and so the Starliner undocked in September without them, landing in the New Mexico desert.

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei is ready to head home from the International Space Station (ISS) after spending nearly a year in space.

Many have referred to the astronauts as being "stuck" or "stranded. But in the interview with USA TODAY, the veteran astronauts, who have both now been to space three times, said that their training and experience extensively prepared them for lengthy stays in orbit. While Musk acknowledged on his social media site X that he had readily agreed to the request, it was not immediately clear if the two had crafted a new plan different from the one put in place months ago.

That spacecraft has been docked at the station since late September and hasn't yet returned for a simple reason: It's passengers, Hague and Gorbunov, are scheduled for a six-month science rotation under the Crew-9 mission. The Starliner and Crew-9 spacefarers are also awaiting the impending arrival of their Crew replacements, who are due to launch on a new Dragon capsule in late March.

When astronauts don spacesuits and venture outside the space station, it's to spend hours performing station maintenance and other seemingly menial tasks. There are moments during these spacewalks , though, when the spacefarers can't help but take in an astonishing view that few have — or will ever — experience.