by The return of two NASA astronauts who were stuck on the International Space Station for months has been further delayed until at least the end of March, the space agency said Tuesday.
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams accompanied Boeing’s first astronaut flight to the space station, launching on June 5, 2024, on an eight-day mission that has now spanned more than eight months.
The Starliner spacecraft they were flying on experienced problems before, during and after launch, so NASA decided not to bring them home as originally planned.
A SpaceX rescue mission encountered problems, leading to Elon Musk’s company temporarily grounding its Falcon 9 rockets in September.
Another SpaceX capsule was initially considered to deploy a replacement crew, but NASA decided the best option was to wait for a new spacecraft.
SpaceX said it needed more time to prepare a new capsule for the replacement crew.
Before Mr. Wilmore and Ms. Williams can begin their return journey, a new crew is needed to get to the space station. They won’t be able to leave until the “handover period” expires, which allows lessons learned to be shared with the newly arrived crew to “provide a better transition for the ongoing science and maintenance of the complex,” NASA said Tuesday.
The latest schedule change, NASA said, gives teams more time to “complete processing of a new Dragon spacecraft” that is scheduled to arrive at the SpaceX facility in Florida in early January. “Manufacturing, assembling, testing and ultimately integrating a new spacecraft is a laborious undertaking that requires great attention to detail,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s commercial crew program.
The stranded astronauts were originally expected to return at the end of February. The latest change means their successors will launch to the space station “at the end of March 2025 at the earliest.”
“We appreciate the hard work of the SpaceX team to expand the Dragon fleet in support of our missions, as well as the flexibility of the station program and expedition teams as we work together to complete flight readiness of the new capsule,” said Mr. Stich.
