NASA astronaut Suni Williams reveals the epic ‘first meal’ she had at home after nine months in space
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were unexpectedly stranded in space when their one week mission turned to nine months. They recently returned home in the first week of March 2025 aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule off the coast of Florida. As they adjust to life back on Earth, people are intrigued to get updates on it. News about their families, their lives in gravity, and even their first home-cooked meal is interesting, as per Newsweek. The pair was aboard the ISS for 286 days instead of the initial eight due to technical issues with their return capsule.
Speaking at their first press conference since their return to Earth, Suni Williams mentioned the one food she craved and wanted to eat as soon as she was back home. The astronaut craved something that reminded her of home and gave her a familiar feeling. "My father was a vegetarian, so I had a good grilled cheese sandwich when I got home. That reminded me of him," she said when asked about her first meal back on Earth, per the publication. After much discussion about Williams and Wilmore on the news in the past few months, the astronauts finally shared their side of the story and engaged with people’s queries about them.
Wilmore, when asked to explain his experience about his trip from space to home planet, said, "Returning from space to Earth, through the atmosphere inside of a 3,000 degree fireball plasma, was weird." He added, "But, it's thrilling, it's amazing." Suni Williams said that the first thing she wanted to do after landing on Earth was to "hug my husband and hug my dogs. And I'll say in that order,” she humored her viewers. Her biggest wish that held the top spot on the list upon her return was to embrace every member of her family and take the opportunity “to just say thank you.”
"The first day we got back when all of us came down the ladder and greeted everybody, we were all a little bit wobbly at that time," Williams added, though it did not take quite long for her to get back on her feet. “I went for a run - although very slow. Just felt good to feel the air, even though it was humid air, like blowing past you, and seeing other people on the track, it's really nice. It's home," she added, as per BBC. People were relieved that the first thing she did upon return was to get some good sleep. She “crashed until the next day” and then tried adjusting her body to gravity.
Butch Wilmore also shed light on the way he had prepared his family for such diversion at work. "I would say it was difficult. It wasn't in the preparation. But in my family, we talk about these possibilities. This is the way we've trained our daughters from the time they were born," he said. "Because I am, you know, their dad is in a unique occupation, right? This is not the norm, leaving the planet. And they understand that," Wilmore added in his statement to the crowd. This is a testament to the amount of work that the astronauts do and the support their family provides for their dreams.
When asked about the technical issues that delayed their return, the astronauts mentioned how it was an oversight. If certain questions had been asked prior to the mission, the issues could likely have been avoided. "Responsibility with Boeing? Yes. Responsibility with NASA? Yes. All the way up and down the chain. We're all responsible. We all own this," commented Wilmore, and highlighted that one person was not to blame. These faults have gained immense attention from the public and continue to be addressed, but despite this, the astronauts say they are ready to go back to the ISS.
