NASA’s latest update on the astronauts stranded at the International Space Station entailed a festive rollout as the beleaguered Starliner’s Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were snapped wearing Santa hats and other Christmas paraphernalia. With the duo already having celebrated Thanksgiving in space alongside their other colleagues, they will also lay out their grand Christmas and New Year’s menu away from home for the remainder of the ongoing holiday season.
Considering how Williams and Wilmore’s initially planned eight-day mission has been struck with endless delays and setbacks, the pair will end up spending nearly an entire year in space until their revised rescue mission date clocks out in Spring 2025. As a result, the much-anticipated updates surrounding the space heroes’ lives up there have been subject to severely heated discussions online – each time sparking a new wave of conspiracy theories, including the previous overwhelming weight loss worries.
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New conspiracy theories about Sunita Williams-Butch Wilmore’s extended space stay erupt
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams, Nick Hague and Don Petitt’s Christmas greetings this week have inevitably fuelled a new batch of distrusting speculation. On Christmas Eve, the New York Post reported that X users banded together to question this latest development. “Did they take Santa hats with them before they launched,” a user commented online. “Or did they knit them while they are there?” Another person, enraged with doubt, added, “These the same guys who went up for an 8-day mission in June?”
Even though this isn’t the first time the first reported case of prolonged spaceflights, especially since some record-holding space missions have gone on for even longer, the Starliner astronauts’ case has possibly generated more buzz and distrust than ever. Beyond the mere questions about why the ISS team had Christmas decorations when they were originally slated to disembark from the space station in June itself, others levelled heavy accusations, signalling an elaborate conspiracy at work. An X user suggested, ‘It’s all one big show,” weighing into the possibility that the astronauts were not even in space. Another one claimed that all these visual updates were filmed in a studio instead.
Officials break silence
NASA has reportedly since pushed back against this inflammatory rhetoric, confirming to The Post that all the festive decorations, special gifts, and Christmas meals for the ISS crew members were actually included in a three-ton SpaceX delivery in late November.
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This isn’t new, as these customary deliveries tend to stock up the ISS with fresh supplies repeatedly over the year. As per US reports, seven astronauts and cosmonauts are currently on board the ISS. The recently delivered package for Sunita Williams and others included numerous food items and other mission-specific / scientific items.
The former half of the ration brought in ham, turkey, vegetables and finger-licking treats like pies and cookies for those with a sweet tooth. On top of shipping these necessities, NASA also saved some space for a festive collection of hats and a Christmas tree, as featured in this week’s Christmas video posted online.
Despite patiently awaiting their rescue mission deadline, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore’s homecoming journey hit another snag this month. According to a postponed schedule, they are not expected to hitch a ride back home on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule before late March. They were initially scheduled to take off in early February.
