Today's Edition
Washington (dpa)
Two US astronauts who were stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) for more than nine months would fly again, they told a press conference on Monday.
Suni Williams and Barry Wilmore arrived at the ISS at the beginning of June on the first manned test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.
They were only meant to stay in space for a week, but numerous technical problems with the craft left them stranded until mid-March.
Speaking publicly for the first time since their return to Earth, Wilmore said both astronauts would fly on the Boeing spacecraft again.
"Because we're going to rectify all the issues that we encountered, yeah, we're going to fix them, we're going to make it work."
He said as commander of the spacecraft he bore some of the responsibility for the issues.
"I'll start and point the finger, and I'll blame me. I could have asked some questions, and the answers to those questions could have turned the tide," Wilmore said.
"We all are responsible. We all own this."
Wilmore, 62, and Williams, 59, had previously been in space several times and are considered experienced astronauts.
Williams revealed that the first thing she did on her return home was hug her husband and dogs, before eating a grilled cheese sandwich.
She said her physical recovery was going well, having recently completed an almost five-kilometre run.
