NASA has announced that the return of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station (ISS) has been moved up to March 2025. This decision comes after the agency swapped SpaceX Dragon spacecraft for the upcoming Crew-10 mission.
Here are some key points:
- Original Plan: Wilmore and Williams were supposed to return to Earth in February 2025 aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule. However, their replacements on the Crew-10 mission were delayed, pushing their return back to late March 2025.
- New Plan: NASA has now decided to use a previously flown SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule for the Crew-10 mission instead of a new one, which was facing production delays. This will allow the Crew-10 launch to proceed on March 12, 2025, enabling Wilmore and Williams to return to Earth in late March.
- Background: Wilmore and Williams launched to the ISS on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft in June 2024 for a planned week-long mission. However, their return was delayed due to safety concerns with the Starliner capsule, which eventually returned to Earth without them in September 2024.
This decision by NASA will allow Wilmore and Williams to finally return home after a much longer stay on the ISS than initially planned.