Two NASA astronauts who traveled to the International Space Station (ISS) on the troubled Boeing Starliner spacecraft will be having their stay in space extended yet again, as they will now not return to Earth until late March 2025 at the earliest.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams lifted off in the Starliner on June 5 this year for what was originally intended to be a one-week trip. However problems with the thrusters of the Starliner meant that the spacecraft had to stay docked to the ISS for months, and eventually NASA decided it would rather bring the astronauts home using a SpaceX Dragon craft instead.
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That meant that the Starliner departed the station without the two astronauts, and it did return to Earth safely. Wilmore and Williams then joined the SpaceX Crew-9, along with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. The four members of Crew-9 had been scheduled to return to Earth in February of next year, but this has now been pushed back by a month.
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While there have been tabloid worries about the astronauts being unwell or underfed on the station, NASA has assured the public that they are safe and are not losing weight. It is not unusual for astronauts to spend up to a year on the ISS, and there are plenty of supplies available for the crew.
The return of Crew-9 has been delayed so that they can have a handover period with the upcoming Crew-10 mission, in which both sets of crews are on the station at the same time to pass over information and to help ease the new crew into their stay. The Crew-10 launch has been delayed until late March so that NASA and SpaceX teams can work on a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission, which is due to arrive at a SpaceX facility in Florida next month.
"Fabrication, assembly, testing, and final integration of a new spacecraft is a painstaking endeavor that requires great attention to detail," said Steve Stich, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, in a statement. "We appreciate the hard work by the SpaceX team to expand the Dragon fleet in support of our missions and the flexibility of the station program and expedition crews as we work together to complete the new capsule's readiness for flight."
NASA has also affirmed that the ISS is well stocked with good, water, oxygen, and other necessities, as it has recently welcomed two resupply craft, so the members of Crew-9 will not experience any deprivations while in orbit.