The stay in the International Space Station of the two astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams is getting longer and longer , having been stranded in the ISS in June following a malfunction of the engines of the Boeing Starliner capsule that had transported them to the orbital outpost (and which had already had technical problems during the trip ).
Wilmore and Williams were supposed to remain in the ISS for only a few days, but at the moment they have been stranded in space for 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 slippage, no earlier than March 2025 , 9 months after their departure, to give the SpaceX Dragon capsule that will have to take them back to Earth time to be ready . This is the third time that their return has been postponed.
What Happened to the Two Astronauts Stranded in the Space Station
The Starliner capsule launched on June 5, 2024 with Wilmore and Williams on board was on its first crewed flight . If all had gone well, the shuttle would have received certification for human flight and Boeing – the company that built Starliner – would have become a competitor to Elon Musk 's SpaceX in terms of transporting crew to and from the International Space Station with commercial capsules (i.e. developed by private companies). However, this did not happen: Starliner showed critical issues with 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 SpaceX's Crew-9 mission , which launched on September 28 and was supposed to return to Earth in February 2025.
Why the astronauts' return was postponed
The end of SpaceX's Crew-9 mission is tied to the arrival in orbit of the next mission, Crew-10 . This one, however, will see the debut of a new Dragon capsule , and 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 might ask at this point is: was it really necessary to launch with a new capsule? For SpaceX, yes: the American company had 4 Dragon capsules at its disposal used in rotation to transport humans to the International Space Station. A new shuttle would help improve the management of SpaceX missions to 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 spaceflight always have a margin of uncertainty, and Crew-10's Dragon is no exception. However, SpaceX has now gained some experience in the construction of Dragon capsules, so at the moment it seems likely that the two astronauts Wilmore Williams will be able to return to their home planet between the end of March and the beginning of April 2025 at the latest . One thing is certain: Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams's journey will be remembered as a true odyssey.
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