NASA’s two stuck astronauts have been given more bad news as their space mission is extended again and are now not expected back until spring.Β
Astronauts Butch Wilmore, 61, and Suni Williams, 58, left the International Space Station in June and expected to return home just eight days later.
However, their mission grew months longer after NASA decided to send the company’s faulty Starliner capsule back empty in September.
NASA has now announced their mission has been pushed back again, as their relief team has been delayed another month, and their expected return would mark ten months since they left Earth.Β
The next crew of four was supposed to launch in February, followed by Wilmore and Williams’ return home at the end of the month alongside two other astronauts.
However, the most recent announcement said that SpaceX needs more time to prepare the brand-new capsule for liftoff and it’s now scheduled no earlier than late March.
NASA said that it considered using a different SpaceX capsule to fly up the replacement crew to keep the flights on schedule, but decided they would wait for the new capsule.
Earlier this year, at their 60-day mark, many fans reacted to the horror of the situation on social media and described the delay as ‘torture’.
Two astronauts stranded in space will now remain there until late March or April as NASA delays launching their replacements. Their eight-day mission stretched to nearly eight months after NASA returned the faulty Starliner capsule empty in September. https://t.co/OHjQNhwKd7 pic.twitter.com/iRMBJy9MWf
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) December 17, 2024
