NASA’s record-holding astronaut is urging his two stuck-in-space colleagues to stay positive and “keep up the good work.”
Frank Rubio knows firsthand about unexpectedly long spaceflights. His own visit to the International Space Station lasted just over a year, twice as long as planned.
So for the past two weeks, he's been helping out with his friends' extended stay. He said he spoke with Suni Williams on Thursday and expressed pride in how she and Butch Wilmore have coped with their situation.
Williams and Wilmore should have returned to Earth on Boeing’s troubled Starliner capsule back in June, a week after blasting off on its first test flight with a crew. After extensive tests and analysis of thruster problems and helium leaks, NASA decided last weekend it would be safer for SpaceX to fly them home, but that won’t happen until February, more than eight months after they blasted off.
“They’re doing great work, really maintaining a positive attitude up there, setting a great example and knocking out a whole lot of extra work on the space station,” Rubio told The Associated Press from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
While remaining in space until next year is not “the optimal outcome,” Rubio said, "they've done a fantastic job of dealing with adversity.” Their families, like his own, also have had to make sacrifices because of the switch in plans.
“But that’s part of our job is just to adapt and overcome and make the best of the situation," he said, "and they’ve done just that, so super proud of them.”
Williams and Wilmore haven't spoken publicly about the Starliner dilemma since their lone orbital news conference last month, well before the decision to bump them to SpaceX and bring Boeing's capsule back empty in early September.
Rubio's own mission was extended after his Russian Soyuz capsule was hit by space junk and leaked all its coolant. A new Soyuz had to be rushed up for him and his two Russian crewmates, and they rode it back to Earth last September. Rubio holds the U.S. record for the longest single spaceflight with his 371-day mission.
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FILE - In this photo provided by NASA, Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams pose for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 13, 2024. (NASA via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo released by Roscosmos State Corporation, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio sits in a chair shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-23 space capsule about 150 km (90 miles) south-east of the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Sept. 27, 2023. (Ivan Timoshenko/Roscosmos Space Corporation via AP, File)
BUKWO, Uganda (AP) — Thousands of mourners in Uganda paid respects to Rebecca Cheptegei, the Olympic athlete who died last week in Kenya after her partner set her on fire, at a military funeral in a remote town near the Kenyan border.
Military officers played a prominent role in the funeral because Cheptegei held the rank of sergeant in Uganda's army, said military spokesman Brig. Felix Kulayigye, adding that she deserved a “gun salute that befits her rank."
Athletes, family members and others delivered their eulogies before thousands in a sports field in the district of Bukwo.
Cheptegei, who was 33, will be buried later on Saturday.
She died after her body suffered 80% burns in the attack by Dickson Ndiema, who doused her in gasoline at her home in western Kenya’s Trans-Nzoia County on Sept. 3. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed to his injuries.
According to a report filed by the local chief, they quarreled over a piece of land the athlete bought in Kenya.
The horrific gasoline attack shocked many and strengthened calls for the protection of female runners facing exploitation and abuse in the East African country.
Cheptegei’s body was returned to Uganda Friday in a somber procession following a street march by dozens of activists in the western Kenyan town of Eldoret who demanded an end to physical violence against female athletes.
Cheptegei is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in a worrying pattern of gender-based violence in recent years. Kenya’s high rates of violence against women have prompted several marches this year.
Ugandan officials have condemned the attack, demanding justice for Cheptegei. First lady Janet Museveni, who also serves as Uganda’s education and sports minister, described the attack as “deeply disturbing.”
Don Rukare, chairman of the National Council of Sports of Uganda, said in a statement on X that the attack was “a cowardly and senseless act that has led to the loss of a great athlete.”
Four in 10 women, or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women, have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey.
Many Ugandan athletes train across the border in Kenya, an athletics powerhouse with better facilities. Some of the region’s best runners train together at a high-altitude center in Kenya’s west.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics, finishing in 44th place, less than a month before the attack. She had represented Uganda at other competitions.
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Muhumuza reported from Kampala, Uganda.
Members of the public gather for a funeral service of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei ahead of her burial in Kapkoros, Bukwo District, Uganda Saturday, Sept. 14. 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)
Members of Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) carry the coffin of their colleague Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Koriny Cheptegei, ahead of her burial in Kapkoros, Bukwo District, Uganda Saturday, Sept. 14. 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)
Members of Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) stand at the casket of their colleague Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Koriny Cheptegei, ahead of her burial in Kapkoros, Bukwo District, Uganda Saturday, Sept. 14. 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)
Members of the public gather for a funeral service of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei ahead of her burial in Kapkoros, Bukwo District, Uganda Saturday, Sept. 14. 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)
Mourners pay respects to Ugandan athlete who died after her partner set her on fire
Mourners pay respects to Ugandan athlete who died after her partner set her on fire
FILE -Rebecca Cheptegei, competes at the Discovery 10km road race in Kapchorwa, Uganda, Jan. 20, 2023. (AP Photo, File)
