NASA has announced that the return of two U.S. astronauts stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has been delayed until at least March 2025. This new setback means the astronauts will not be able to return to Earth on the originally planned date.
Experienced astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at the ISS in June aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, intending to stay for only eight days. However, issues with Starliner’s propulsion system forced NASA to completely revise their return plans.
After weeks of intensive testing on the Starliner, NASA decided to return the spacecraft to Earth without crew. Wilmore and Williams were scheduled to return with SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission.
DELAYED TO MARCH 2025
The Crew-9 team arrived at the ISS in late September, leaving two empty seats for Wilmore and Williams. The initial plan had been for four astronauts to return to Earth in February 2025. However, NASA has now announced that the Crew-10 mission will be delayed until at least March 2025, meaning that Wilmore and Williams will stay on the ISS longer for the crew handover process.
NASA’s blog stated, “This change allows NASA and SpaceX teams time to complete preparations for a new Dragon spacecraft.”
As a result, Wilmore and Williams will spend more than nine months in space, far longer than their initially planned eight-day mission. SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, conducts regular flights to bring ISS crews back to Earth every six months.