The return of the two American astronauts stuck in the ISS since June postponed again

Having left for an eight-day mission, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will not return before “the end of March”, announced NASA, while a return in February was previously envisaged.

More than a month of additional confinement for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. The two American astronauts stuck for six months in the International Space Station (ISS) will not return to Earth until “end of March at the earliest”announced NASA on Tuesday, December 17. The mission which is to take over from them, expected in February, will take off later than planned, “time to complete the development of a new Dragon spacecraft”according to the American agency.

Initially heading into space for an eight-day mission in June, the two space veterans were held in space due to malfunctions on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which had transported them from Earth during a first test flight with crew. After long weeks of unsuccessful repairs, NASA decided in the summer to bring the ship back empty and bring back the two shipwrecked people later with the SpaceX Crew-9 mission.

The latter took off at the end of September with two passengers on board, instead of the four initially planned, to leave two seats free, and joined the ISS. It is now waiting to be relayed by the Crew-10 mission, which is seeing its takeoff delayed. If they return in March, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will have spent more than nine months in space, instead of the big week planned.

During a press conference at the beginning of September, the two astronauts assured that they were adapting well to their extended stay. “The transition wasn’t that difficult, Suni Williams said. We’re both from the Navy, we’ve both been deployed before. We’re not surprised when missions are changed.” The 59-year-old astronaut still confided that she was apprehensive about the announcement to her family, with whom she had planned to spend time during the fall and winter. “But everyone … supports us, so that worry quickly dissipated.”