Two astronauts stranded in space for more than 60 days may have to keep orbiting the Earth until early 2025 … because their Boeing spacecraft appears unable to bring them home.
NASA is now saying Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams may need to be rescued from the International Space Station by a spacecraft from a rival company … Elon Musk‘s SpaceX.
The pair took a Boeing Starline spacecraft to the ISS in June but the maiden voyage has been a disaster … with helium leaks and thruster failures preventing them from taking the spaceship home.
Butch and Suni were only supposed to be on the ISS for a week … but it’s looking increasingly likely they will be up there until sometime next year.
NASA says the astronauts may need to come back on the SpaceX Dragon Crew-9 mission … the spacecraft won’t launch until September and wouldn’t be able to bring Butch and Suni home until February.
This new plan has not been set in stone yet … there are lots of parties involved here, and a Boeing crew coming back on a SpaceX mission would be a huge embarrassment for Boeing.
For now, Butch and Suni remain on the ISS … helping other astronauts with tasks.
The clock is ticking though, because they are causing extra strain on ISS supplies.