NASA finally confirms date stranded astronauts will return to Earth after months stuck on ISS
It comes after President Trump vowed to bring them home
The saga of Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore is finally set to come to an end, as NASA confirms when the stranded astronauts will be brought back to Earth. Williams and Wilmore flew on the Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission, and although it was supposed to take eight days, they’ve been marooned on the International Space Station since June 6, 2024.
The pair have become the subject of much media interest, with President Donald Trump even calling for Elon Musk to try and rescue them. But alas, it’s not that easy, with NASA explaining why Williams and Wilmore have to wait a little longer.
There have been concerns for the astronauts, and the longer they stay up there, the worse the side effects of an extended stay in space become.
Due to a fault with their Boeing Starliner thrusters as it approached the ISS, the Crew-9 team of Williams and Wilmore were left up there while their craft was eventually flown back unmanned.
In its latest blog post, NASA confirmed what’s going on with the Crew-10 launch that will bring the Crew-9 astronauts home. It is now accelerating its Crew-10 launch and is hoping to hit a March 12 launch window.
There will be a couple of days of handover before Crew-9 is sent home.
Crew-10 will be the tenth operational NASA Commercial Crew Program flight and is planned to be the 17th crewed orbital flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft. It’s comprised of NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
Instead of flying a new Dragon ship, NASA is aiming for an earlier window because it will use the previous Endurance craft.
NASA says: “Joint teams are working to complete assessments of the spacecraft’s previously flown hardware to ensure it meets the agency’s Commercial Crew Program safety and certification requirements.
Sunita Williams says she doesn’t feel ‘stranded’ in space (CBS Evening News)
“Teams will work to complete Dragon’s refurbishment and ready the spacecraft for flight.”
Explaining why things are suddenly moving so quickly, NASA Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stich said: “Human spaceflight is full of unexpected challenges. Our operational flexibility is enabled by the tremendous partnership between NASA and SpaceX and the agility SpaceX continues to demonstrate to safely meet the agency’s emerging needs.
“We greatly benefit from SpaceX’s commercial efforts and their proactive approach in having another spacecraft ready for us to assess and use in support of Crew-10.”
Although the return of Williams and Wilmore has only been moved forward a matter of days and is “pending mission readiness”, we’re sure it’s a welcome relief for the pair.
Despite all of this, Williams has said she doesn’t feel ‘stranded’, telling CBS: “I don’t think I’m abandoned. I don’t think we’re stuck up here.
“We’ve got food. We’ve got clothes. We have a ride home in case anything really bad does happen to the International Space Station.
“We’re in a posture … where we have the International Space Station fully manned and doing what the taxpayers wanted, to do world-class science. And so I feel honored, like I said, to be here and a part of the team.”
NASA issue major update on when stranded astronauts will return after months of health concerns
Williams and Wilmore have been stranded since June 2024
NASA has provided a new update on the status of stranded astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have spent upwards of 245 days trapped on the International Space Station (ISS) and are awaiting return back to Earth.
Much attention has been paid to the stranded pair, as what was just a simple eight-day trip in June 2024 has turned into eight months and counting after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft encountered technical issues that stalled their return.
While their return flight – the SpaceX Crew-9 spacecraft – has been sat at the ISS for roughly the same amount of time that they’ve been there, protocol restrictions from NASA have meant that they’ve had to wait for a changeover before they can head back.
Williams and Wilmore have been stranded on the ISS for over eight months now (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
This is to ensure that information is properly shared and that there is a seamless changeover between arriving and departing teams, yet on the ground the next flight – SpaceX Crew-10 – has also been encountering issues.
As reported by Ars Technica, it is indicated that the Crew-10’s C213 Dragon capsule has experienced a battery issue that means it won’t be ready for takeoff until at least April this year, leading to a change in plans that might bring Wilmore and Williams home sooner than expected.
NASA and SpaceX have now decided together to switch out the new C213 spacecraft for the experienced C210, as per the Daily Mail, and that would bring forward the expected return date to March, with the 19th in particular penciled in as their official landing date.
This would end an excruciatingly long stretch of time in space for the pair, where they’ve been left wondering how they’d adjust to life back on Earth with simple tasks like learning to walk again proving to be an unexpected challenge.
There have also been a number of health concerns raised for Williams and Wilmore, as pictures showed the pair looking rather gaunt. On top of this, some have also expressed worries about bone density issues, but rigorous exercise routines conducted by the two astronauts should help curb this issue.
Speeding up their return would avoid any critical issues with food supplies (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
One of the major reasons for the expedited return schedule though is the dwindling food supplies, as waiting for the C213 Dragon to be completed would have left resources dangerously low, and the pair have already had to resort to eating soup made from their own urine.
Some might attribute their accelerated return schedule to the work of US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, as the former issued that SpaceX ‘go get’ the stranded astronauts, with the latter adding that it’s “terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.”
However, the delay is largely linked to issues with SpaceX’s own spacecrafts as opposed to any federal hold up, and there’s no indication that the switch to the C210 was prevented from happening by the Biden administration.
