Why are astronauts stuck in space? Here’s how the Boeing Starliner crew ended up on the space station for months.

May Be Interested In:UEFA Champions League score predictions, picks for Tuesday, February 18: Get ready for draws-a-plenty


Two NASA astronauts who flew up to the International Space Station in a Boeing Starliner capsule for a round trip that was supposed to last just over a week will be stuck in space for closer to a year before they can come home. Despite the astronauts’ longer-than-expected stay at the space station, officials have insisted that Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore aren’t stranded in space.

Here’s what we know about the stuck astronauts:

Why are the astronauts stuck in space?

Williams and Wilmore blasted off to the space station in June. Their mission was supposed to take between eight and 10 days, but helium leaks in the capsule’s propulsion system and degraded thrusters, which are important for re-entry, upended plans for bringing the astronauts back to Earth.

“Eight days to eight months or nine months or 10 months, whatever it is, we’re going to do the very best job we can do every single day,” Wilmore told CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann in September. At the time, they were expected to leave the space station in late February 2025.

The capsule safely returned to Earth in September with no one onboard.

Who are the astronauts who are stuck in space?

Williams turned 59 on the space station in September. She joined NASA in 1998 after serving in the Navy for over a decade, retiring as a captain. As a naval aviator, she logged over 3,000 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft. At NASA, she had set a record for women with four spacewalks lasting a total of 29 hours, 17 minutes, but it was broken by Peggy Whitson with her fifth spacewalk in 2008.

Wilmore also retired from the Navy as a captain, recording over 8,000 flight hours as a naval aviator. During Operation Desert Storm in Iraq in 1991, Wilmore flew 21 combat missions. He joined NASA in 2000 and accumulated 178 days in space before the Starliner mission. Like Williams, he has also performed four spacewalks, totaling 25 hours, 36 minutes.

NASA astronauts Suni Williams, left, and Butch Wilmore, wearing Boeing spacesuits, depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 5, 2024.
NASA astronauts Suni Williams, left, and Butch Wilmore, wearing Boeing spacesuits, depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 5, 2024.

Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP via Getty Images


Why did the Boeing Starliner crew go to the International Space Station in the first place?

The June launch was the Starliner’s first piloted test flight. NASA has funded the development of the capsule and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon as the space agency looks to stop using Russian Soyuz flights to transport astronauts to and from the space station.

When will the astronauts be able to return to Earth?

On Tuesday, Dec. 17, NASA announced Williams and Wilmore would return to Earth after the agency’s new SpaceX crew arrives at the space station. That won’t happen until late March at the earliest so NASA and SpaceX can have more time to finish a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission, NASA said.

Have other astronauts been stuck in the International Space Station before?

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and two cosmonauts’ six-month stay on the space station was unexpectedly extended to a year after their Soyuz ship became disabled. A replacement had to be launched up to the trio so they could return to Earth in 2023.

William Harwood

contributed to this report.

share Share facebook pinterest whatsapp x print

Similar Content

(L-R) Scotland's First Minister John Swinney, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Wales' First Minister Eluned Morgan. Pic: PA
Devolved nation leaders praise Starmer in rare win for No 10
Amorim says Manchester United were nervous in rout by Bournemouth
Amorim says Manchester United were nervous in rout by Bournemouth
A small, black drone with four rotors is shown in the foreground flying in front of a commercial airliner in the background. The airliner is painted white and the front facing windows can be seen behind the drone. Concrete platforms surround the commercial airliner and yellow ramps connect the platforms to the plane.
NASA Small Business Funding Enables Aircraft Inspection by Drone – NASA
Column: For many Black women, Kamala Harris' defeat felt like a betrayal. Now what?
Column: For many Black women, Kamala Harris’ defeat felt like a betrayal. Now what?
South Korea's far right borrows from Trump's playbook to bolster impeached Yoon
South Korea’s far right borrows from Trump’s playbook to bolster impeached Yoon
Uniform volumetric single-cell processing for organ-scale molecular phenotyping - Nature Biotechnology
Uniform volumetric single-cell processing for organ-scale molecular phenotyping – Nature Biotechnology
Frontpage Focus: The Day's Most Important Events | © 2024 | Daily News