Will Sunita Williams spend more time in space? NASA astronauts will return only after 7 months… peppermint

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were scheduled to return to Earth after the launch of the SpaceX Crew 10 mission in February this year. Williams and Wilmore flew into space on June 5, 2024, aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. But NASA decided to abandon the faulty Starliner and return the two astronauts to Earth along with Crew 9 members on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

However, NASA’s SpaceX Crew 9 cannot return until Crew 10 – its replacement – ​​is launched into space.

Crew 10 was scheduled to launch in February 2025. After delays, Crew 10 is now expected to fly in late March 2025, with four crew members – NASA astronauts Anne McClain (commander) and Nicole Ayers (pilot), JAXA (Japan). Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi (mission specialist) and Roscosmos astronaut Kirill Peskov.

“NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 is now aiming to launch four crew members to the International Space Station before the end of March 2025,” NASA said in a press release on December 17, 2024.

This has pushed back the arrival of the Crew-9 mission, which Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are a part of.

“The agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore and Roscosmos astronaut Alexander Gorbunov will return to Earth after Crew-10 reaches the orbiting laboratory,” NASA said.

Four members of Crew 9 – Nick Hague and Alexander Grubonov, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore – will now return after a brief handover with Crew 10. Crew 9 was launched into space on September 29.

Do we know the exact date of Sunita William’s comeback?

No, NASA has not yet announced the exact date of Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore’s return to Earth. However, it is expected that the two Starliner astronauts “stranded” in space will not return until late March or April due to delays in launching their replacements.

The two test pilots, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, had planned to be away for only a week or two when they flew on June 5 on Boeing’s first astronaut flight to the International Space Station. Their mission extended from eight days to eight months after NASA decided in September to send the company’s troubled Starliner capsule back empty.

‘Want to go home’

In a conversation with NASA officials in early January, Sunita Williams said, “It doesn’t feel like we’ve been fired. After all, we want to go home because we left our families a while ago, but our There’s still a lot left.” Do it while we’re here.

Meanwhile, Butch Wilmore said during a video call with ground control, “It doesn’t look like we’ve been taken down. “After all, we want to go home because we left our families some time ago, but we have a lot to do while we stay here.”

Why did NASA delay the launch of Crew 10?

NASA said SpaceX needs more time to prepare a brand-new capsule for liftoff. The US space agency said it considered using a separate SpaceX capsule to fly the replacement crew to keep the flights on schedule.

But it was decided that the best option was to wait for a new capsule to carry the next crew. NASA said the team is scheduled to launch Crew-10 in late March after the completion of the new Dragon spacecraft, “to meet NASA requirements and achieve space station objectives for 2025.” Was the best option.”

According to officials, NASA likes to have overlapping crews on the space station for smooth transitions. Most space station missions last six months, with some reaching a full year.

NASA said, “Many have supported longer missions lasting about a year to help the agency learn how humans adapt to space flight in preparation for missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.” Are.”