The stay of the two astronauts in the International Space Station is getting longer and longer Barry Wilmore And Sunita Williamswho were stranded in the ISS in June following a malfunction of the capsule’s thrusters Starliner Of Boeing who had transported them to the orbital outpost (and who had already had technical problems during the journey). Wilmore and Williams were only supposed to stay on the ISS for a few days, but they are currently stuck in space over 6 months. The possible date for their return had been set for February 2025, but the return of the two astronauts has recently undergone a further postponement not before March 20259 months after their departure, to give the capsule time Dragon Of SpaceX which will have to bring them back to land to be ready. It is the third time their return has been postponed.
What happened to the two astronauts stuck in the Space Station
The Starliner capsule departed on June 5, 2024 with Wilmore and Williams on board first manned flight. If all went well, the shuttle would receive the certification for human flight and Boeing – the company that made Starliner – would become a competitor to Elon Musk’s SpaceX when it comes to transporting crew to and from the International Space Station with commercial capsules (i.e. developed by private companies).
It didn’t happen that way, though: Starliner showed criticality to various internal systems, so much so that it could not guarantee the minimum safety standards for the two astronauts. For this reason, NASA and Boeing decided to return the capsule without a crew and reassign Wilmore and Williams to the mission. Crew-9 of SpaceX, which left on September 28 and was expected to return to Earth in February 2025.
Why the return of the astronauts was postponed
The end of SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission is linked to the arrival in orbit of the next mission, the Crew-10. This, however, will see the debut of one new Dragon capsuleand it is not unusual for the development of a new shuttle to suffer small delays or slippages necessary to complete checks and tests.
The question that someone may ask at this point is: was it really necessary to start with a new capsule? For SpaceX, yes: the US company had it available 4 Dragon capsules used on rotation to transport humans to the International Space Station. A new shuttle would help improve mission management SpaceX towards the ISS, and this is precisely what is being developed for Crew-10.
When the two astronauts return to Earth
The development times of a capsule intended for human flight in space always have a margin of uncertainty, and Crew-10’s Dragon is no exception. However, SpaceX has now gained some experience in the creation of the Dragon capsules, so at the moment it seems likely that the two astronauts Wilmore Williams will be able to return to their mother planet between the end of March and the beginning of April 2025 at the latest.
One thing is certain: that of Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams will be remembered as a real one odyssey…
