NASA astronauts Butch and Suni faced further delays in their return home

NASA says astronauts stuck on the International Space Station will have to wait even longer to get home.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were supposed to return just one week later when they blew up in June.

Their stay was extended until the following February due to technical problems with the Boeing-built Starliner experimental spacecraft.

Now – after a delay in the launch of the new capsule to the ISS – the pair won’t return until late March or possibly April.

NASA said the delay posed no risk to the astronauts.

A NASA statement said: “The International Space Station recently hosted two resupply flights in November and is well-stocked with everything the crew needs, including food, water, clothing and oxygen. The resupply spacecraft also carried special items for the crew. celebrate the holidays on board the orbital platform.”

Most space station missions last six months, with some reaching a full year. So, according to Dr. Simeon Barber of the Open University, extending Butch and Suni’s already-expired spacetime should not be a problem.

“I’m sure they’re already disappointed that they were going to miss Christmas at home with people. But it’s only two more months into what’s already a pretty long mission, and I’m sure if you ask them, I’m sure they’ll tell you that the space station is where they love to be,” he said.

The new crew is due to launch before Wilmore and Williams return, and the next mission has been delayed by more than a month, the space agency said.

NASA’s next four-person crew for the ISS was scheduled to launch in February 2025. The capsule with this crew was to bring home Butch and Suni, along with NASA astronauts Nick Haig and Roskosmos cosmonaut Alexander Garbunov as part of the regular crew rotation.

But the private sector company SpaceX has delayed the preparation of the new Dragon capsule for this mission. It is now planned to be ready for flight no earlier than the end of March.

NASA said it is considering using a different SpaceX capsule to launch a new crew to carry out the flights as scheduled.

But now it was decided that the best option would be to wait for a new capsule to carry the next crew.