(NewsNation) — Bonnie Pandya, the mother of Boeing Starliner astronaut Suni Williams, assured “CUOMO” that both her daughter and Butch Wilmore are keeping busy and are happy at the International Space Station.
Despite another delay in their return to Earth, Pandya is unconcerned.
“I don’t give her any advice. She knows what to do. She is a seasoned astronaut. She’s been up over 400 days in space,” she said. “So, you know, they have things to do. They have jobs to do. They have experiments.”
The astronauts have been at the ISS since the beginning of June on what was initially expected to be an eight-day mission. After multiple delays from the multinational corporation, they are now slated to return to Earth in February 2025 via a SpaceX capsule, NASA decided.
Pandya said she last spoke to her daughter just two days ago, adding, “She told me not to worry about her. Everything’s going to be fine.”
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NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore (R) and Suni Williams, wearing Boeing spacesuits, depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center for Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to board the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for the Crew Flight Test launch , on June 5, 2024. Boeing on June 5 will try once more to launch astronauts aboard a Starliner capsule bound for the International Space Station. Liftoff is targeted for 10:52 am (1452 GMT) for a roughly one-week stay at the orbital laboratory. (Photo by Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP) (Photo by MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images) -
Boeing’s Starliner capsule, atop an Atlas V rocket, lifts off from launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 Wednesday, June 5, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara) -
A series of malfunctions with the ship’s propulsive devices are behind the delays.
“I’ve been an astronaut mom for 20 years, and this is her third flight. Even though it was, you know, it has a problem, we still don’t feel that there’s a big problem,” she said. “They just want to be sure that … they’re safe coming back. So that’s why they decided to keep them up there.”
Pandya has penned a book each time her daughter has stayed in space, beginning with “Little Tail, Big Tales: The Adventures of an Astronaut’s Dog, Gorby and His Two and Four Legged Friends” in 2022.
