Two Astronauts Who Flew to ISS for 8 Days Will Return to Earth in 2025

Two American astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who went on an eight-day mission to the International Space Station in June 2024, are still there due to technical problems. Moreover, they may not return home until February 2025.

This was reported by The Guardian.

Such a development is likely if their Boeing Starliner ship cannot be repaired.

On Wednesday, the US space agency NASA said that if the return to the Starliner is unsafe, the astronauts will use another ship, the SpaceX Crew Dragon, but this will happen next year.

In particular, NASA's Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich said that the agency is considering sending SpaceX's Dragon Crew-9 to the ISS. Its launch was originally scheduled for mid-August. Later, it became known that the mission would start after 24 September.

Currently, the issue of how to return Wilmore and Williams back is still being resolved.

The astronauts launched the mission on 5 June 2024. They questioned the spacecraft's ability to safely return the crew to Earth as planned.

A Boeing spokesperson said that if NASA decides to change the Starliner mission, the company will "take the steps necessary to set up the Starliner to return without a crew".

The Starliner spacecraft has been on the ISS for 63 days out of a possible 90 and is "parked" in the same port that Crew Dragon will use to deliver the future astronaut crew.

In July, Boeing said that after thorough ground tests, engineers had identified problems with the Starliner, such as engine failure and a helium leak. But at the same time, they are confident that the return with the help of this ship is possible.

At the same time, some of the agency's leaders doubt whether it is worth returning Williams and Wilmore on the Starliner.

Some experts from NASA's Commercial Spaceflight Programme disagreed with the plan to accept Boeing's test data and use the Starliner to bring the astronauts home.

"We haven't conducted a survey to come to a final conclusion," said Steve Stich.

Space industry experts noted that the problems are not unusual or unexpected during an experimental space flight.

"This is a test mission, a manned test flight. One of its features is to solve unplanned problems," said Jerry Stone, a senior researcher at the Space Research Institute.