Butch Wilmore takes blame for Boeing Starliner's failure that left him stranded on ISS with Sunita Williams

NASA’s celebrity astronaut Butch Wilmore on Monday took the blame on himself for the technical failure of Boeing Starliner capsule due to which he was unable to return from the International Space Station to Earth with his teammate Sunita Williams for over nine months. Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore pose for a photo at Johnson Space Center on Monday, March 31, 2025, in Houston, U.S. Wilmore and Williams addressed their first press conference since their celebrated return from space earlier this month. Speaking on the Starliner's failure, Wilmore said, “I’ll start and point the finger and I’ll blame me. We're going to make it work,” he said, adding he'd go back up “in a heartbeat.” Williams told AP that it felt “great” being back home and said she had to wait for her feet to get steadier before reuniting with her two Labrador retrievers the day after splashdown.