NASA unveils a new plan to rescue astronauts stranded on the ISS since June 2024

NASA has a new plan to rescue the veteran astronauts stranded on the International Space Station since June 2024. According to insiders, the space agency will return 59-year-old Sunita Williams and 62-year-old Barry "Butch" Wilmore home on March 19.

The latest plan is about two weeks ahead of the astronauts' previous return to Earth date of early April. The rush may have been prompted by US President Donald Trump's personal request to Elon Musk to speed up the process of Williams and Wilmore's flight home, DailyMail reports.

As a reminder, Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams landed on the ISS on June 6, 2024, and were supposed to stay there for several days. However, due to a malfunction, the Boeing Starliner spacecraft was unable to deliver them to Earth on time and they were stuck in space.

Williams and Wilmore were originally scheduled to return home in February 2025. But later, NASA announced that it had postponed the completion of the mission to the spring, but the dates were pushed back each time.

However, after Elon Musk tweeted on January 28 that Donald Trump had "asked for the two astronauts stuck on board to be brought home as soon as possible," things started to move forward.

The billionaire emphasized that his space company SpaceX would do it, adding: "It's terrible that the Biden administration left them there for so long."

Instead, NASA sources said that an accelerated plan to bring home veteran astronauts in case of emergencies was launched before Trump took office.

Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes.