As it flew up toward the International Space Station last summer, the Starliner spacecraft lost four thrusters. A NASA astronaut, Butch Wilmore, had to take manual control of the vehicle. But as its thrusters failed, Wilmore lost the ability to move Starliner in the direction he wanted to go.

There are more thrusters to fall back on, but as the pair of astronauts approached the ISS in Starliner, they lost another one. At that point, they should have aborted the mission and returned home, because a loss of any more thrusters put them at risk of losing control entirely.

US astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have revealed their first reactions after learning their week-long test flight was about to turn into a nine-month space odyssey.

"We're all excited to have you back, and we're ready to leverage your experiences and expertise in the Space Force."

The Fram2 mission, which launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, is funded by Chinese-born Chun Wang. Traveling alongside Wang is Norwegian cinematographer Jannicke Mikkelsen, Australian polar explorer Eric Philips, and German robotics engineer Rabea Rogge.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who were stuck in space for more than nine months, took questions after returning to Earth.

I wanted to hug my husband and hug my dogs – and I’ll say in that order,” said Suni Williams, one of the astronauts. She also revealed she ate a grilled cheese sandwich after getting home, and it reminded her of her vegetarian father.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Earth earlier this month after unexpectedly spending nine months on the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams revealed the one meal she'd been craving in space on Monday. Newsweek's live blog is closed.