BBC Breakfast’s Naga Munchetty found herself icaught out during an interview with NASA expert Dr Ken Kremer. The seasoned journalist, alongside her co-host Charlie Stayt, was delving into the swirling rumours that astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were “stranded in space” in space.
The pair had embarked on their journey on June 5, anticipating a short stint in orbit, but speculation suggested they were now “trapped” after failing to return for nearly two months.
In her quest for clarity, Naga posed the question to Ken: “When people hear this story, are these astronauts in distress? Is there a real concern about what is going on because they’ve been up there much much longer than expected?”
Ken didn’t mince words as he addressed Naga’s concerns, stating plainly: “That’s been much much exaggerated.”
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He went on to reassure the presenters, saying: “The astronauts are happy as clams to be up there”, and emphasised that “Astronauts are meant to be in space, that’s what they want to do and they are not in any imminent danger, no”, reports the Daily Star.
Ken also shed light on the situation by adding: “Yes there are issues with the Boeing starliner with helium leaks and with the thrusters, but they’ve done testing of those systems in orbit to confirm that they work and that the astronauts can actually come home at any time.”
The space expert clarified the astronauts’ status, stating: “They’re not stranded, they’re not stuck in space, they’re happy to be where they are, they are contributing to science and the maintenance of the international space station so they are doing exactly what should have been done.”
Ken admitted that the space journey encountered some issues but reassured that all is well now, highlighting that NASA’s absence of an “open-ended” return ticket was the primary blunder. He explained that the mission, which was originally supposed to last “one week” has become NASA’s “biggest PR problem” due to the repeated postponement of the return date “every four days” at first.
However, Ken introduced a new approach that NASA accepted. Clarifying for the BBC hosts Naga and Charlie, Ken said: “So that’s why they have not announced a return date yet, because why? Those issues are in the service module and so that’s the only way to find out what’s wrong is to keep it in space.”
Ken further elaborated on the need for the service module to stay in orbit for testing: “To conduct further tests, the service module must remain in orbit,” and added: “Once they separate and once they undock from the international space station they can’t do any more testing on that service module because it burns up. It doesn’t return, we don’t get it back at the end of the mission so the only way to study it is in space.”
The scientist concluded his interview by dismissing the sensational rumours, stating: “The astronauts are there and they’ve practiced coming home procedures and they’ve practiced turning on the spaceship so everything is great right now, really.”
Following the specialist’s remarks, Naga appeared to change her stance, informing viewers: “So many reports of them being stuck and stranded. It’s very easy to see it as a distress story but he said they’re happy. ‘Happy as clams’ I think he said.”
Viewers on social media were quick to react to the segment, with some suggesting that the BBC presenter was taken aback after the conversation. One user commented: “#bbcbreakfast Naga gets slapped down by a NASA scientist and is left with a face like a smacked a**e.”
Another added their voice to the discussion, saying: “Ken certainly told Naga #bbcbreakfast,” accompanied by a laughing emoji.
BBC Breakfast airs from 6am on BBC and BBC iPlayer.