One year ago, two experienced NASA astronauts boarded an experimental Boeing spacecraft known as the Starliner for a short voyage to orbit and back.
If you followed the Starliner saga as a few days stretched into months, you likely remember how this story ends.
Boeing's vehicle, which it is developing for NASA to make trips to and from the International Space Station, attained a certain degree of notoriety. And the astronauts who crewed the spacecraft for its maiden human flight test are now as close to being household names as astronauts can get.
For 286 days, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams made their home among the stars as unexpected extended crew members of the space station. Meanwhile, back on Earth, their predicament involved intricate planning to get them home and ‒ when President Donald Trump and the world's richest man Elon Musk chimed in ‒ no small amount of finger-pointing.
For their part, the astronauts, who have long since returned to Earth, have regularly spoken about relishing the extra time in the cosmos – including in an exclusive interview in January with USA TODAY. Wilmore and Williams have also downplayed their extended mission as just part of the job.
