Rescued US astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore revealed that malfunctions on the Boeing Starliner were far dire than originally reported as the latter described the stomach-dropping moment they lost all control of the capsule. Wilmore gave a near minute-by-minute retelling of what went through his mind when four thrusters on the Boeing-made spacecraft failed while he and Williams were attempting to dock at the International Space Station. The near-catastrophic crisis caused Wilmore to lose full control of the plagued capsule, leaving the seasoned astronauts floating in the vast void of space until NASA’s mission control came to their rescue. “I don’t know that we can come back to Earth at that point,” Wilmore, 62, recalled in an interview with Ars Technica. Wilmore explained that flight regulations typically call for malfunctioned ships to abort docking – even within close range to the ISS – and return to Earth. But NASA waived that mandate, he said. Panic eventually began to set in as the pair attempted to direct the defective ship toward the ISS. “So there we are, loss of 6DOF control, four aft thrusters down, and I’m visualizing orbital mechanics,” Wilmore explained. “The space station is nose down. So we’re not exactly level with the station, but below it. If you’re below the station, you’re moving faster. That’s orbital mechanics. It’s going to make you move away from the station,” he continued. “So I’m doing all of this in my mind. I don’t know what control I have. What if I lose another thruster? What if we lose comm? What am I going to do?” The space explorer said he had shared concerns about the capsule’s thrusters – which are essential for docking – with Boeing in the months prior to takeoff after an uncrewed flight test to the space station experienced similar malfunctions. Mission control eventually instructed Wilmore to relinquish all remaining control of the capsule to allow NASA to reset the thrusters – a directive he said “was not easy to do.” The remote override restored two of the failed thrusters, giving the ship just enough control to safely dock at the space station. “I did this little happy dance,” Williams, 59, told the outlet. “One, of course, just because I love being in space and am happy to be on the space station and with great friends up there. Two, just really happy that Starliner docked to the space station,” she said. “My feeling at that point in time was like, ‘Oh, phew, let’s just take a breather and try to understand what happened.'” Wilmore, on the other hand, knew that their problems had only just begun and would likely need another way home. “I was thinking, we might not come home in the spacecraft. We might not,” Wilmore added. “And one of the first phone calls I made was to Vincent LaCourt, the ISS flight director, who was one of the ones that made the call about waiving the flight rule. I said, ‘OK, what about this spacecraft, is it our safe haven?'” The pair have recently spoken out after making a dramatic return to Earth from the ISS on March 18 after spending a total of 286 days in space – a staggering 278 days longer than anticipated. The NASA duo had set off on what was supposed to be an eight-day test flight on Boeing’s new Starliner spacecraft last June until mechanical issues kept them stranded in space for more than nine months. Their unplanned jaunt quickly captured the world’s attention, turning the pair into household names.