NASA’s stuck astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, won’t be returning to Earth until the end of March or April, it was announced on Tuesday. The two test pilots launched on June 5 aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule on a mission that was originally supposed to last eight days, but was extended to eight months after a series of delays.
NASA decided to send the problem-plagued Starliner capsule back empty in September, and now Wilmore and Williams won’t return to Earth until a new crew can launch and relieve them. The next mission was supposed to launch in February, but has been bumped more than a month to late March.
SpaceX needs more time to prepare the brand new capsule for liftoff, according to NASA. The agency considered using a different SpaceX capsule to fly up the replacement crew, but decided it was best to wait for the new capsule to transport the next crew.
NASA prefers to have overlapping crews at the International Space Station for a smoother transition, and most space station missions last six months, with a few reaching a full year. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group.
