NASA has announced that two of its astronauts, Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, who have been stranded in space for over two months, will return to Earth in February 2025 using a SpaceX spacecraft. The astronauts were initially launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner on a planned eight-day mission on June 5, but technical issues extended their stay on the International Space Station (ISS) to about eight months.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Problems with the Starliner included helium leaks and malfunctioning thrusters, prompting NASA and Boeing engineers to conduct extensive tests to resolve the issues. Despite these efforts, the Starliner will return to Earth uncrewed, and Williams and Wilmore will instead return on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson emphasized that the priority remains the safety of the crew. The astronauts, both experienced with long-duration space missions, will continue their scientific work aboard the ISS until their scheduled return.
This incident underscores the challenges in space exploration, even for companies like Boeing and SpaceX, which hold multi-billion-dollar contracts with NASA for commercial space flights.
