Stuck on the ISS

NASA postpones return of astronauts again

Astronaut Suni Williams and her colleague Butch Wilmore have been on board the ISS since June.(Bild: AP)

The US space agency NASA has once again postponed the return of two US astronauts stranded on the International Space Station (ISS). Astronaut Suni Williams and her colleague Butch Wilmore, who have been on board the ISS since June, are now to remain there until at least the end of March, NASA announced on Tuesday. This means they will now have to stay in space for more than nine months instead of the originally planned eight days.

Wilmore and Williams reached the ISS on June 6 in a Starliner space capsule from the US aerospace company Boeing and were supposed to return eight days later in the same capsule. It was the first manned flight of the space capsule, the commissioning of which had been delayed for years due to technical difficulties.

Docking problems
During docking with the ISS, however, problems occurred with the capsule's thrusters, which are needed for precise maneuvering. Helium leaks were also discovered before the launch and during the flight.

The US space agency then decided to fly the Starliner back to Earth without a crew. The two astronauts were to be brought back to Earth in a SpaceX Dragon space capsule - but not until February 2025, together with two astronauts from Crew 9, who arrived at the ISS at the end of September.

Handover not until March
However, the crew that is to replace Crew 9 as well as Williams and Wilmore will not be launched until March 2025, and both teams will remain together on board the ISS for a "handover" period, NASA has now announced.

In contrast to Boeing, SpaceX, the aerospace company founded by tech multi-billionaire Elon Musk, has been successfully transporting astronauts to and from the ISS since 2020.