NASA has shared that astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will stay in space longer than expected. They won’t return to Earth until at least late March 2025. They will come back with astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov after the Crew-10 mission gets to the International Space Station (ISS).
This mission, which was supposed to launch in February, has now been pushed back to late March 2025. NASA says this delay is to allow teams to finish working on a new Dragon spacecraft. This ‘handover period’ helps the current Crew-9 team share what they learned with the new Crew-10 team, making it easier for all astronauts to do their jobs at the ISS.
NASA didn’t give a specific date for when the astronauts will finally come back. Williams and Wilmore went to the ISS in June for what was meant to be an eight-day mission. However, their stay turned into several months because their Boeing Starliner capsule was not safe for the trip back to Earth.
So, are they safe up there? Yes! The ISS is a secure place for these astronauts. It’s often stocked with supplies and is like a home in space for scientists conducting research.
They’re not alone, either. Other astronauts currently aboard the ISS include Oleg Kononenko (the Commander), Nikolai Chub, Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, and Alexander Grebenkin.
Plus, the spacecraft can act as lifeboats if they ever need to leave the ISS quickly due to an emergency. Sadly, the Boeing Starliner, which could have been a backup, had some problems like thruster failures, leaving Williams and Wilmore stuck in space for a while longer.
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