Two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station since June 2024 are now set to return home in March, ahead of schedule. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been on board the station since a Boeing Starliner spacecraft experienced technical issues during their launch.
The astronauts will return to Earth aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft on March 12, following a brief handover period at the space station. This revised timeline comes after NASA initially expected late March as the earliest possible date for their return.
Despite initial concerns over the extended mission, Wilmore and Williams expressed gratitude for more time in space. “We’re all on board with that,” they said in September. The astronauts will be accompanied by crew members from SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, including Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Takuya Onishi, and Kirill Peskov.
NASA successfully returned the Starliner to Earth in September without Wilmore and Williams, paving the way for this revised return plan. The agency is now able to assess and utilize SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft as part of its Crew-10 mission.
Source: https://www.foxnews.com/us/nasa-spacex-reveal-new-date-return-stranded-starliner-crew-back-earth