NASA postpones the return mission of astronauts stuck on the ISS from June 2024 once again

The return of the two veteran astronauts stuck on the International Space Station has been postponed again. NASA has officially announced the delay in the flight of 61-year-old Barry "Butch" Wilmore and 58-year-old Sunita Williams to Earth.

This means that the astronauts will not return to Earth until the spring of 2025. That is, the space mission, which was supposed to last up to 10 days, will stretch for at least 10 months, NBCNews writes.

As a reminder, Sunita Williams and her fellow astronaut Barry Wilmore have been stuck in space since June 6, 2024, when a malfunctioning Boeing Starliner spacecraft failed to return them to Earth.

NASA, in cooperation with SpaceX, planned to send the veterans home in a Crew Dragon capsule in February 2025. However, the space agency has postponed the delivery of the next astronaut crew to the ISS from February to the end of March to allow more time to "complete processing" on a new SpaceX aircraft that will be used for the mission.

"Fabrication, assembly, testing, and final integration of a new spacecraft is a painstaking endeavor that requires great attention to detail," said Steve Stich, NASA Commercial Crew Program manager.

According to NASA officials, the four crew members aboard the station must wait for the arrival of the next crew before they can return to Earth on a separate SpaceX Dragon capsule.

It is known that most astronauts' missions to the ISS last six months, with some reaching a whole year.

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