Good Monday morning, friends. It’s your Space Coast correspondent James Sparvero and new in our coverage of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams’ historic mission - remarkable video of the crew taking us inside Starliner while docked to the International Space Station.
It’s the first time I can think of any Commercial Crew program astronaut showing us what it’s like to float from the station into their capsule. My first impression was you definitely can’t be claustrophobic if you want to go to space! Butch, however, said it’s not as confined as it looks 👨🚀.
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“It looks probably a little cramped,” he said. “It’s actually fairly roomy for just Suni and myself.”
When Butch and Suni reentered the station at the end of the video, I thought about how happy they looked when they docked on Thursday. After their rendezvous, which was not without its challenges, NASA and Boeing said the helium leaks and thruster issues were not big problems, even though they don’t understand what caused those thrusters to fail (a similar problem on Starliner’s second uncrewed flight happened two years ago).
And judging by their excitement to be on the station for the third time each, I don’t think Butch and Suni will mind spending a few extra days on orbit. Over the weekend, NASA announced their flight home is now scheduled for the 18th, so Butch and Suni can help with more space station activities like a spacewalk this week.
📧 Email me if you have any space topics you’d like me to address.
👋 Here’s a little bit more about me.
Little did I know when watching Apollo 13 in the third grade that 20 years later, I was destined for a thrilling career as your Space Coast multimedia journalist.
Chemistry and biology weren’t so interesting to me in high school science, but I loved my Earth and Space class (Thanks, Mr. Lang).
Then in 2016, I traded Capitol correspondent in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for space correspondent. I’m proud that my first live report at News 6 happened to be the first time SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 booster on a barge. What seems so routine now was a really big deal that day in our newsroom!
From there, I’ve covered the Commercial Crew program and the return of human spaceflight to Kennedy Space Center (Demo-2 launched on my 33rd birthday!)
Now, as our coverage looks forward to missions to the moon and Mars, I often tell others I have the best job in local news. Because after all I’ve seen so far, I think I would be bored working somewhere else. I even bought a house near the Cape with a great view to the north so I never miss a launch even when I’m not working.
After eight years on the beat, though, I still consider myself a young space reporter and I always look forward to learning something new with every assignment.
Have a great launch into the rest of your week!