Stranded Astronauts Have Taken Up Gardening, NASA Says

Gotta keep busy somehow.

Keeping Busy

What was meant to be an eight-day stint on board the International Space Station has quickly turned into a months-long waiting game for NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

The pair arrived at the orbital lab in early June aboard the maiden crewed journey of Boeing's Starliner, but technical issues plaguing the spacecraft's thrusters then forced NASA to delay their return indefinitely.

And while NASA has yet to publicly announce a return date, let alone ride arrangement, the two have kept busy. In fact, as the agency details in a recently updated FAQ about Boeing's much-maligned crew flight test, they've taken up a common hobby, at least down on Earth: gardening.

In short, while officials are racing to figure out a way to clear up two seats for Wilmore and Williams to return, the pair are happily watering plants, a fitting pastime for someone stranded in space for months.

Make Yourself at Home

Williams and Wilmore are testing out their horticultural skills as part of the space agency's Plant Water Management experiment, which has ISS crew members investigating how the absence or decreased presence of gravity affects the amount of water and nutrition a plant needs to grow.

The goal is to find new ways of controlling "fluid delivery and uptake in plant systems" given that gravity can't take care of that and surface tension works quite differently in the microgravity of space.

Williams and Wilmore have also helped test new hardware for producing high-quality optical fibers in space. Scientists believe the absence of gravity allows for less degradation during production.

But being stuck on board the space station hasn't always been glamorous. The pair have had to clean toilets and ration clothes, since they only packed enough for eight days in space.

Fortunately, as NASA notes in its FAQ, the pair aren't cut off from the world and are free to "email, call, and video conference with their family and friends when they have 'free time.'"

Earlier this month, a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft also arrived at the station, carrying thousands of pounds of food, fuel, and supplies, meaning the two astronauts won't go hungry.

NASA is still trying to figure out the safest way to get Williams and Wilmore home. One option being considered would have them return on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft in February, extending their space holiday to roughly eight months — plenty of time to nurture a green thumb.

More on Starliner: Boeing Official Says He's Not Surprised Company's Starliner Spacecraft Got Astronauts Stuck in Space