NASA announced on Dec. 17 that two astronauts stranded in space won’t be able to return to Earth until March due to delays in processing SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.
The astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, were supposed to return within a week after traveling to the International Space Station (ISS) on NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test mission in June. However, issues with their Boeing-designed Starliner spacecraft led to multiple delays.
NASA explained that they needed more time to complete the processing of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which is expected to arrive at the agency’s facility in Florida in early January.
The Crew-10 mission, initially planned for February 2025, will now launch in March 2025. This delay means that Wilmore and Williams will spend more than nine months in space before returning home.
During the handover period, the Crew-9 astronauts will share lessons learned with the newly arrived crew to support ongoing science and maintenance activities at the ISS. The duration of the handover process was not specified by NASA.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
