Stranded Astronauts' Trip Back to Earth Has Been Postponed Yet Again

How long must these poor souls be made to wait?

Hold Up

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the two NASA astronauts who were left stranded aboard the International Space Station following the failure of Boeing's Starliner, will have to wait even longer before they can return to Earth.

That's because NASA has decided to delay the launch of its upcoming SpaceX Crew-10 mission, which will ferry four fresh astronauts to the orbital outpost, to March 2025. Wilmore, Williams, and two other crew members will have to sit tight until the new expedition team arrives before they can hitch a ride back home on the previous Crew-9, which is still docked at the station.

Originally slated for February, the delay "gives NASA and SpaceX teams time to complete processing on a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission," the space agency announced Tuesday in a statement.

Shoddy Spacecraft

It must be a gut punch for Wilmore and Williams, who have been stuck on the ISS since June. What was originally meant to be a trip no longer than ten days is now shaping up to last at least eight or nine months. Being the consummate professionals that they are, though, we're sure they'll take it in stride.

Their unexpectedly lengthy stay was caused by their ride to the space station, Starliner. Last summer, the plagued Boeing spacecraft launched with helium leaks that were identified beforehand but were deemed not severe enough to be problematic.

That prognosis couldn't have been more wrong. By the time Starliner arrived at the ISS, so many leaks had sprung — while its thrusters were soon found to be malfunctioning — that NASA judged the vehicle too dangerous to bring passengers aboard for a return trip.

And so, in a huge embarrassment for NASA and Boeing, it hurtled back to Earth empty-handed.

Rotation Device

The decision was made in August to use a SpaceX Crew Dragon space capsule to return the marooned spacefarers. Crew-9 launched the following month with a reduced two-person crew to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the way back, following a brief "handover" period in which the outgoing crewmembers brief the incoming ones. The stranded pair will also be joined by fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

But prepping the follow-up Dragon capsule that will rotate in their replacements comes with its own challenges.

"Fabrication, assembly, testing, and final integration of a new spacecraft is a painstaking endeavor that requires great attention to detail," Steve Stich, program manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, said in the recent announcement.

The new Dragon capsule is scheduled to arrive at SpaceX's processing facility in Florida in early January, the agency said. When it launches, commencing mission Crew-10, it will carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov to the ISS.

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