NASA astronauts Butch and Sunny face further delay in return

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

Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams were only supposed to return after a week when they broke out in June.

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

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

NASA said the delay posed no risk to the astronauts.

In a statement, NASA said: “The International Space Station recently received two resupply flights in November and is well stocked with everything the crew needs, including food, water, clothing and oxygen. The supply spacecraft also carried special items for the crew to celebrate the holidays aboard the orbital platform.”

Most space station missions last six months, with some reaching a full year. So extending Butch and Sunny’s already overdue stay in space shouldn’t be a problem, according to Dr Simeon Barber of the Open University.

“I’m sure they are already disappointed that they were going to miss Christmas at home with the people. But it’s only two more months into an already 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.

A new crew must launch before Wilmore and Williams can return, and the next mission has been delayed by more than a month, according to the space agency.

NASA’s next four-person crew for the ISS was scheduled to launch in February 2025. The capsule carrying this crew was to return Butch and Sunny home, as well as NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov as part of the normal crew rotation.

But there was a delay by private sector firm SpaceX in preparing a brand new Dragon capsule for the mission. It is now scheduled to be ready for flight no earlier than the end of March.

NASA said it is considering using another SpaceX capsule to fly the replacement crew to keep the flights on schedule.

But now it has been decided that the best option is to wait for the new capsule to transport the next crew.