Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore will have to spend nine months in space as NASA changes rescue plan, again

US astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, will remain stuck in space for few more months as NASA has again changed its rescue plan

The astronauts will have to spend more time on the International Space Station will remain there at least until late March, NASA said Tuesday.

The veteran astronauts initially sent to the orbiting laboratory in June aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft for an eight days mission.


But problems arose with the Starliner's propulsion system during the flight there, so NASA opted for a big change in plans.

Following intensive testing of the Starliner, NASA opted to return the spacecraft to Earth without its crew. Instead, Wilmore and Williams were slated to return home aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft as part of the Crew-9 mission, which arrived at the ISS in late September.

Crew-9, consisting of two astronauts, brought along two empty seats in the Dragon spacecraft for Wilmore and Williams. The plan had been for the four astronauts to return to Earth in February 2025.

However, NASA now says the launch of Crew-10, which will replace Crew-9 and relieve Wilmore and Williams, has been delayed until no earlier than March 2025. This adjustment will allow NASA and SpaceX to finalize preparations for a new Dragon spacecraft.

NASA explained in a blog post that the schedule change would allow "a handover period" between Crew-9 and Crew-10, extending Wilmore and Williams’ stay to more than nine months—far longer than their originally planned eight-day mission.

SpaceX, the private aerospace company founded by Elon Musk, has been providing regular crew rotations to the ISS, with missions typically lasting six months. The extended stay of Wilmore and Williams highlights the challenges and complexities of space exploration and the importance of reliable spacecraft for crewed missions.