The return to Earth of NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will be delayed until at least the end of March, the agency said, pushing what should have been an eight-day stay at the station to more than nine months. International Space Station (ISS).
The duo had traveled to the ISS in June for the test mission, but their return was extended by eight months to February after the Boeing Starliner capsule in which they arrived was deemed unfit to return them to Earth.
NASA said Williams and Wilmore, along with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, would return to Earth after the four-member Crew-10 mission, which is now expected to lift off in late March. , arrive at the space station.
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NASA did not specify a date for the return of the astronauts
The agency did not specify a date for the astronauts’ return. Hague and Gorbunov embarked on the ISS in September, more than three months after Williams and Wilmore.
“Known as the handover period, it allows Crew-9 to share any lessons learned with the newly arrived crew and support a better transition for ongoing science and maintenance at the complex,” the agency added in Tuesday’s statement.
The launch of the Crew-10 mission was initially scheduled for February. NASA said the delay was to give teams time to complete processing on a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission.
With information from Reuters.
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