Nasa astronauts Butch and Suni's homecoming delayed again

Nasa says that the astronauts stuck connected the International Space Station volition person to hold adjacent longer to get home.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were owed to beryllium backmost aft conscionable a week erstwhile they blasted disconnected successful June.

Their enactment was extended to February adjacent twelvemonth due to the fact that of method issues with the experimental spacecraft, Starliner, built by Boeing.

Now - pursuing a hold successful launching a caller capsule to the ISS - the brace won't beryllium backmost until precocious March oregon perchance April.

Nasa said the hold posed nary hazard to the astronauts.

In a connection Nasa stated: "The International Space Station precocious received 2 resupply flights successful November and is well-stocked with everything the unit needs, including food, water, clothing, and oxygen. The resupply spacecraft besides carried peculiar items for the unit to observe the holidays aboard the orbital platform."

Most abstraction presumption missions past six months, with a fewer reaching a afloat year. So the hold to Butch and Suni's already overdue enactment successful abstraction should not beryllium a problem, according to Dr Simeon Barber, from the Open University.

"I'm definite that they are already disappointed that they were going to miss Christmas backmost location with the folks. But this is lone different 2 months connected an already rather agelong mission, and I'm definite if you inquire them, I'm definite they would archer you that the abstraction presumption is wherever they emotion to be," helium said.

A caller unit needs to motorboat earlier Wilmore and Williams tin instrumentality and the adjacent ngo has been delayed by much than a month, according to the abstraction agency.

Nasa's adjacent unit of 4 for the ISS was expected to person been launched successful February 2025. The capsule carrying that unit was owed to beryllium the 1 bringing Butch and Sunni home, arsenic good arsenic NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov arsenic portion of the mean unit rotation.

But determination has been a hold by the backstage assemblage steadfast SpaceX successful preparing a brand-new Dragon capsule for the mission. That is present scheduled for formation readiness nary earlier than precocious March.

Nasa said it considered utilizing a antithetic SpaceX capsule to alert up the replacement unit to support the flights connected schedule.

But it has present decided the champion enactment is to hold for the caller capsule to transport the adjacent crew.