Skilled astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who reached the ISS with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft in June, deliberate to spend solely eight days there.
Nevertheless, because of issues with Starliner's propulsion system, NASA needed to fully change its return plans.
After weeks of intense testing on Starliner, NASA determined to deliver the car again to Earth with no crew. Wilmore and Williams' return would happen with SpaceX's Crew-9 mission.
Postponed to March 2025
The Crew-9 staff arrived on the ISS aboard the Dragon spacecraft in late September, leaving two empty seats for Wilmore and Williams. The plan referred to as for the 4 astronauts to return to Earth in February 2025.
Nevertheless, NASA introduced that the beginning of the Crew-10 mission has been postponed to March 2025 on the earliest. Which means Wilmore and Williams, together with the Crew-9 staff, will keep on the ISS longer for the “handover course of.”
“This transformation provides NASA and SpaceX groups time to finish the preparation course of for a brand new Dragon spacecraft,” NASA's weblog publish mentioned.
Because of this, Wilmore and Williams will stay in area for greater than 9 months, as a substitute of the eight-day mission initially deliberate. SpaceX, based by Elon Musk, carries out common flights each six months for the transformation of ISS groups.
