Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are set to remain in space longer than initially planned. The astronauts, who launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule for the company's first crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS), were originally scheduled for a week-long mission. However, due to delays in the launch of their replacement crew, their mission has been extended. They will now stay in space until at least March 2025, nearly ten months after their initial launch.
Williams and Wilmore launched to the ISS on June 5, 2024. Their mission was intended to last eight days but was extended to eight months following NASA's decision to return the Starliner to Earth without a crew in September due to multiple issues that required additional repairs and testing.
Recently, NASA announced that the return of Williams and Wilmore will be further delayed. The new timeline indicates that they will not return until March or April 2025, stemming from the late launch of their replacement crew. Initially, the next mission was planned for February 2025, with Williams and Wilmore expected to return shortly thereafter. However, SpaceX, which is tasked with sending the new crew, has requested more time to prepare its capsule, pushing the launch of the replacement crew to late March 2025 at the earliest.
NASA explored the option of using a different SpaceX capsule for transporting the replacement crew to maintain the schedule but ultimately decided it was more beneficial to wait for the new capsule to ensure mission success. The agency prefers overlapping crews at the ISS to facilitate a smoother transition during crew changes.
Meanwhile, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently announced that it has achieved a significant milestone in its Gaganyaan program, which aims to send humans into space. ISRO has successfully transported the first segment of a solid rocket motor from the production facility to the launch site. This announcement follows important recovery tests conducted for the Gaganyaan mission in collaboration with the Indian Navy on December 6.
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