“Butch and Suni are fully trained,” Weigel said. “They’re capable and current with EVA [extravehicular activity, a.k.a. spacewalks], with robotics, with all the things we need them to do.”
According to NASA briefings, they’ve been busy with station upkeep, inspecting hardware, organizing cargo, performing checks on Starliner, and assisting with science experiments and tech demonstrations.
Both, of course, were picked for the mission in the first place because they’re consummate professionals who’d be ready for anything.
“I think the biggest thing is be diligent and be intentional in all of the thought process and testing that you’re going to do,” Williams said on the NASA podcast in April, talking about what she tried to impress on her students as a flight instructor. “Don’t go out there and be a cowboy.”
And you always have to have a backup plan.
“You can’t just go out there and wing it,” Williams stressed. “You need to know what you’re going to do to come back home.”
