Boeing Starliner AstronautsStuck in Space Until 2025 …SpaceX Bringing Them Back

The astronauts on the Boeing Starliner, who have been stuck in space for almost three months, will have to wait even longer. They won’t be back on Earth until next year.

At a news conference on Saturday, NASA chief Bill Nelson shared that Butch Willmore and Suni Williams are set to come back in February 2025. He also mentioned that the Boeing Starliner will be sent back without any crew on board because of safety worries.

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They now have six extra months in space, which is a big change from the nine days they were supposed to be up there at first.

Don’t forget that the two astronauts launched into space on June 5 and were supposed to come back on June 14. However, they got stuck at the International Space Station because of helium leaks and issues with their propulsion system.

NASA was thinking about whether the two could return on the Starliner, and Boeing was confident they could. However, NASA ended up winning the debate, so the team has to wait until February or March to go back.

A SpaceX spaceship is set to bring the crew back home, but it won’t happen for another six months. This will be when the next SpaceX Dragon mission wraps up. Two pilots will fly the four-person vehicle to take the astronauts back after they complete their mission.

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One problem is that the astronauts who are stuck in space have spacesuits that work with the Starliner, but the Dragon is the spacecraft coming to rescue them. This means they will need new spacesuits.

NASA wants to make it clear that the two astronauts aren’t really stuck in space, but it sure looks like they are since they can’t figure out how to bring them back down.

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