Wow

...

I, I didn't count them, but that's what I was told, so I just trust that they told me the truth.

Uh, but anyway, various missions supporting, uh, the goals of our nation in space, a dominance of space, and which includes the International Space Station right now, primarily for science.

And most of what we do, I, we over, almost 300 different science missions, uh, um, projects and, and other things that take place on the space station, um, while I was there for this last mission.

And the last mission, that brings me to the last mission.

Um, how did I get stranded, stuck in space? So we have spacecraft, all of our spacecraft, maneuver in space with thrusters, right? There's no vacuum.

Margo wants to know, how do astronauts breathe in their helmets in space?

Give us a little context for how our space programs have really shaped this country and how that has in turn shaped the world because of our ingenuity.

Well, just briefly, a little history lesson.

We declared our independence in 1776.

We went out and won our freedom on the battlefield and signed the Constitution 11 years later.

Only 116 years after that, Orville and Wilbur Wright took to the air.

58 years after that, Alan Shepard breached the atmosphere into space.

And eight years after that, Aldrin and Armstrong were boots on the moon.

Why is it important we go back and do we make that deadline, do you think?

From the earliest days of exploration, to the first steps on the Moon and the missions shaping our future, NASA represents the spirit of discovery that defines our nation." Um, give us a little context for how our space programs have really shaped this country and how that has in turn shaped the world because of our ingenuity.

Well, just, just briefly, a little history lesson.

Um, we declared our independence in 1776.

We went out and won our freedom on the battlefield and signed the Constitution 11 years later.

Only 116 years after that, Orville and Wilbur White, Orville and Wilbur Wright took to the, took to the air.

58 years after that, Alan Shepard breached the atmosphere into space, and eight years after that, uh, Aldrin and Armstrong were boots on the Moon.

And now we are 26 years straight of human presence in space, and the future is bright.

Why is it important we go back, and do we make that deadline, do you think?

... as well as Gunnery Sergeant Gerhardt.

Gunner Sergeant Gerhardt and Coach Sims, two impactful people in my life.

I'll start with Coach Sims 'cause he was first.

He was my junior high position coach.

I was a guard on offense.

Get this, I was a linebacker on defense, a guard on offense, and the second-string quarterback.

[laughs] That is a strange combination, but that's what you do in junior high.

Tell us about what you're doing now and how the Lord is playing a role in, in your life.

Right.

And it wasn't really until President Trump came back in that it got lit afire again to go back and pursue those capabilities to get back beyond low-Earth orbit and into the, you know, the lunar are- area of the moon, and that really started to stoke the fire again to go forward and make this happen again.

As it should have w- on the path we were on back in, like I said, the 2000s.

So we took the, the architecture that we had, the spacecraft that we had and what we were building, kinda transformed a little bit to what we have now with the Artemis program.

And, and b- be quite honest, uh, in the last couple years, the Artemis architecture, very challenging to do to get us to the surface of the moon.

It was a very, very challenging architecture.

Everything, uh, together, how we were, the processes, we were gonna launch, and the mul- number of launches and in-space refueling of cryogenic, uh, fuels and all that, which, uh, the gory details are gory.

Right.

Does that sort of seem right to you?

It does.

Uh, think about Colossians, the Book of Colossians.

Paul's in Rome.

He's, he's imprisoned.

He got, um, in Jerusalem, he was imprisoned.

He's appealed to Caesar.

Yeah.

Let's begin with Butch's story.

The progression of this life, my life, as far as how things transpired, it all started with my parents.

They said, "You will go to college." It wasn't like if you might go or not go.

There was not a question.

"You're going." And so into college and always trying to do the best of what the Lord gave me, I went into electrical engineering and majored in that.

Also played football at the same time.

That was very difficult.

Butch and Suni have made their arrival.

That's right.

And it takes balance, balancing all these other requirements out, and, and that was key.

So give you an example.

Get- preparing for this mission, the rendezvous officer, that was Ray Biganez is his name, he's a volunteer fireman, and he'd say, "Butch, I'm coming off shift at 5:30 AM on Saturday morning.

Meet me at the sim." On a Saturday, on a weekend.

And I'm like, "Roger that." Because the commitment for, for the role that I was given, all in, and the preparation has to ma- has to match that.

So we would go to Johnson Space Center into our simulator.

... and as a man of faith with a very unique, real perspective, what would you say to those people about what you've seen?

Yeah.

'Cause you can't do a spacewalk and go out and inspect the thrusters.

They're not made that way.

So there's, you, how do you bound the problem? I thought there's no way.

So when, it was three months, we were on space station three months before the final decision was made not to return on the spacecraft.

But about a month in, because of what I already knew, I told my family, I said, "Hey, the most likely scenario is, you know, we don't, we don't make it back until probably 2025." And this was July of 2024 at the time.

So that was six months away.

Certainly more than two.

... a continual surprise for you?

That's a very, very fair, good question.

Uh, the process w- did not, you know, go long, long, long for me, for me or Sunny.

Uh, w- we were in the spacecraft, obviously, when we had our problems, and, uh, we will go into the, maybe go into the problems in a little bit, but basically the situation we were in, we lost the ability to fully control the spacecraft, and I'm on the controls manually and, uh, doing my best to maintain control, trying to see if we could get in a process where we could dock.

So the thought process was this: W- we have to dock because the situation we're in, I'm not sure we can get back to Earth.

We didn't know why we were losing thrusters.

We dropped four thrusters, which a- affected our ability to fully control the spacecraft.

... for what's coming?

Right

... forward and aft, up and down, left and right.

That's translation.

Put them all together, that's six degrees of freedom, and we, we couldn't fully do that.

N- again, never happened before in human spaceflight.

So that led to the, you know, the situation where at least out in front of the space station, where we actually, we really needed to dock.

We had to dock, um, because our options were limited if we weren't able to dock.

Tell us a little bit about how this also becomes a personal spiritual journey for you.

A lot.

Yeah, there was.

I mean, I...

When I came back, I, I said it, I, I, I didn't see a lot of discussion about those issues from NASA or Boeing while I was in space, but when I got back, yeah, the, m- every press conference we had, we had several on orbit, and even getting back, I had four, four goals in mind when I spoke to the media and the, and the nation and the glo- and the world.

I wanted to honor my, uh, our administration, that's our leadership of our nation, because this is a national endeavor.

I wanted to honor NASA, my direct, you know, the, the ones that, that I'm, I'm a, I'm a slave to the...

And I say that not in a bad sense, in a good sense.

Damn.

Tell us what happened and what is at the kernel of this great book.

Well, I think this book, John, is written...

I actually initially started writing chapters for my daughters because my wife and I, we were in our 40s when we had them, and we'd lived a life before they were born.

So that was the genesis of the book.

But the Starliner saga continued throughout the... 2024 and the first part of 2025, I continued to write some chapters while I was in space, trying to use my my time with intent.

And as the story began to develop, it just seemed like a good story of hope in the now.

And it also, you know, I believe in it doesn't matter what I believe, what matters is what's true.

Tell us how that unfolds, because it's such an amazing anecdote.

Wh- what's the toughest part about returning to gravity?

The structure of your skeletal structure, I think for most people, grab, you have to hold that up, and your muscles, especially your back muscles, are not used to that, so you have some tension in your back.

I still feel a little bit right now, even though we've been back almost two weeks.

Uh, that's the main transition.

Uh, neurovestibular, couple of days, uh, that-

Were you aware of the controversy that was stirred up after that interview, and, and how do you see it all now?

now?Well, we- we s- we heard some of that.

Uh, uh, you know, I can't, I can't speak to all those comments that were made or things that were said.

Did you ever feel abandoned up there? Did you ever feel that NASA, the White House, anybody had abandoned you?

Felt abandoned? No.

I mean, we, we didn't, I didn't think about those type of thing.

I understand the, the, the rhetoric that was taking place, I understand the reason for it.

Um, we did not involve ourselves in it at all.

While their 286 days in orbit did not break Frank Rubio's 371 days...

Gravity makes you tired.