NASA again postpones the return of two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station

Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, both astronauts Americans who are stranded since June in International Space Station (ISS), will not return to Earth until at least “the end of March,” NASA announced.

With a mission that was expected to last only eight days, the astronauts have already spent six months on the ISS due to the Breakdowns on Boeing’s Starliner ship who had transported them in June.

After several weeks of testing on the Starliner during the summer, the US space agency had decided to return it without a crew and bring back the two space castaways with the mission. Crew-9 from SpaceX.

The latter took off at the end of September with two passengers on board – instead of the four initially planned – to leave two places free, and joined the ISS, where it is now awaiting relief with the mission. Crew-10.

However, the POT announced this Tuesday the launch postponement of Crew-10 scheduled in February until at least “the end of March”, to give time to “NASA and SpaceX teams to complete the development of a new Dragon spacecraft.” In this way, the return of the two astronauts to Earth, as well as that of the Crew-9 crew, was postponed.

If they return in March, Wilmore and Williams will have spent more than nine months in space instead of just eight days. Both carried out the first Boeing Starliner test flight when problems arose in its propulsion system.