NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita William have been stranded at the International Space Station (ISS) since June of last year. They were involved in the first Starliner mission in June 2024, but safety issues have caused the 8-day mission to drag on for more than half a year. NASA has confirmed that the two astronauts will finally return to Earth on March 19.
They will return with two other astronauts, Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov, using the Crew Dragon space capsule. The four astronauts were replaced by the Crew-10 mission crew who arrived at the ISS yesterday. The return date for Wilmore and William has been changed several times, with them originally scheduled to return to Earth in February.
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft is another vehicle used by NASA to send crew to the International Space Station (ISS) after the Space Shuttle ceased operations almost a decade ago. In addition to Starliner, the United States also uses the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule to carry astronauts and supplies to the ISS.
The program has faced various problems, causing Boeing to lose around $1.5 billion. Boeing is reportedly looking to sell its aerospace business as a way to reduce the company's operating costs, which have also been hit by issues with the 737 Max and 777X passenger aircraft series.