'We want to come home, but there's still work to do' say stuck astronauts

Two Nasa astronauts who have been stuck on the International Space Station(ISS) since June last year say they don't "feel like castaways".

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams originally planned to go to space for just eight days, but got stuck on the ISS when their Boeing Starliner spacecraft started experiencing problems.

In September 2024, after it was decided that the craft wasn't safe enough to bring them home, it left the space station without them.

The two astronauts have since had their return trip repeatedly delayed and a new crew needs to launch to the space station before Butch and Suni can head home.

The next crew scheduled to take over operations on the ISS was planned for February, but that mission has been pushed back by more than a month because the SpaceX capsule carrying them isn't ready yet.

Butch and Suni did not go to the ISS as part of the space station's normal crew rotation.

Their mission made history, launched on 4 June 2024 it was the first crewed flight of a new craft; Boeing's Starliner.

The short trip, planned for just over a week meant Butch and Suni packed light, with minimal toiletries and clothes, expecting a quick return to Earth, after just over a week's stay.

But after problems, including fuel leaks were detected on Starliner, eight weeks has become seven months (so far) and the pair have spent the US election, Thanksgiving and Christmas aboard the ISS.

They were both able to vote in the US election from space and although Butch is missing most of his daughter's final year of high school, the astronauts appeared happy during a video call back to Earth on Wednesday.

"Eventually we wanna go home," said Suni via the call to the news conference.

"We left our families a little while ago - but we have a lot to do up here and we have to get that stuff done before we go."

The astronauts on the ISS also received two deliveries of supplies recently, with clothes, food, water and oxygen, according to Nasa.

"The resupply spacecraft also carried special items for the crew to celebrate the holidays aboard the orbital platform," the space agency said in December.

Most space station missions last six months, with a few reaching a full year. So the extension to Butch and Suni's already overdue stay in space means the length of time is not unusual, even though it was unplanned.

View from space

While onboard the space station US Astronauts and Russian cosmonauts often get a brilliant view of things on Earth from above, such as storms and hurricanes.

However, Butch and Suni say they haven't been able to see the California wildfires on America's west coast yet, due to the space station's path in orbit around our planet.

The astronauts said they plan to take photos from the window of the ISS when they do pass over California, in the hope that it may help emergency services working to tackle fires on the ground.