Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams could spend eight months on the International Space Station if NASA goes ahead with its plan to send them back aboard a SpaceX Dragon in February.
According to NASA, the Starliner crew could be in space by February
The astronauts will work on the International Space Station until NASA decides whether they can return on the Starliner.
- The experienced NASA astronauts are not the first to experience an extended stay on the space station. In September, Frank Rubio made history as the American with the most consecutive days in orbit.
- Rubio’s return home was also delayed due to a problem with the Soyuz spacecraft that had brought him to the station, and his six-month mission was eventually extended to 371 days.
- Most stays aboard the International Space Station are not that long. Astronauts are usually only gone for about 6 months.
Whether they are “stranded,” “stuck,” or simply enjoying an extended stay in orbit, one thing is certain: Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been in space much, much longer than originally planned.
When the two NASA astronauts reached the International Space Station on June 6, they thought they had only about a week left before returning to Earth on the Boeing Starliner that had taken them there.
But that was more than two months ago now. And not only are Wilmore and Williams still on the space station, they may not return until next year.
NASA announced Wednesday that the two-person crew of the troubled Starliner capsule – built to regularly transport crews and supplies to the station – could return home in February aboard a SpaceX Dragon if problems are not satisfactorily resolved.
If that happens, Wilmore and Williams are perfectly safe and can stay in orbit for an extended period of time, NASA officials assured reporters during a press conference on Wednesday. In fact, such long stays on the space station are not only common, but the astronaut couple would not be the first to have their planned return date to Earth postponed.
Learn about at least one other astronaut whose stay on board the International Space Station was significantly extended, and how long orbital stays typically last.
Starliner timeline: 2 months after the launch of the Starliner, the astronauts have still not returned
Which other astronauts were stuck in space?
Astronaut Frank Rubio made history in September when he set the American record for the longest space flight, 371 days in orbit.
But Rubio, then 47, would never have broken that record when he launched with two cosmonauts from a site in Kazakhstan on September 21, 2022. Rather, Rubio and his crew thought they would return to Earth the following March after just six months.
And what was the reason for the crew’s unexpectedly long stay? Just like with the Starliner crew, there were problems with the same capsule that was supposed to bring them back to Earth.
When Russia’s Soyuz capsule sprung a coolant leak in 2022 after being punctured by a piece of space junk, a new spacecraft was rushed to the orbiting outpost so the stranded astronauts could return to Earth. Rubio’s time in space ended on Sept. 27, when the Army doctor and helicopter pilot landed with the Russians in a remote area of Kazakhstan in the replacement Soyuz that had reached them just two weeks earlier.
On the plus side, the unexpected stay allowed Rubio to etch his name in the record books as the American with the most consecutive days in space. Rubio, a Salvadoran-American born in Los Angeles, beat the previous American endurance record of 355 days, set by astronaut Mark Vande Hei in 2022, by more than two weeks.
In total, Rubio and his crew members traveled more than 252 million kilometers and orbited the Earth 5,963 times, NASA said.
How long do astronauts stay on the International Space Station?
Most stays on board the International Space Station do not last quite that long.
Astronauts on missions aboard the space station typically travel for about six months, making Rubio’s year-plus stay in space a notable exception, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Designed and operated thanks to a global partnership of space agencies, the International Space Station has been home to astronauts, cosmonauts and many other crews since November 2000, according to NASA. There, the astronauts spend their time conducting a variety of scientific experiments while also working to maintain and improve the station’s operations.
The Starliner astronauts currently live among the seven members of Expedition 71 who arrived in April.
Four of Expedition 71’s participants are part of the SpaceX Crew-8 mission, which was scheduled to leave the station in August after six months in orbit. Due to the problems the Starliner has encountered, these four astronauts will have to stay in space about a month longer than planned while NASA and Boeing determine the size of the Crew-9 mission that will replace them.
What happened to the Boeing Starliner?
Whether four or two astronauts will head to the International Space Station for the six-month Crew-9 cycle depends on what happens with Starliner.
After several delays over the course of about a month, the Boeing Starliner finally launched on an Atlas V rocket on June 5.
The mission was the first manned demonstration of the spacecraft, which is expected to be certified for routine flights into space on behalf of NASA. The partnership marks a shift in recent years for the US space agency, which, to save costs, now pays private companies for missions it previously carried out itself.
Approving the Starliner for such missions would give NASA a second operational spacecraft to transport astronauts and cargo to the space station after spending billions of dollars with Boeing and SpaceX to develop the vehicles.
But Boeing is lagging behind SpaceX, which began reliably transporting astronauts and supplies to the space station aboard its Dragon aircraft in 2020. Hopes were high that a successful Starliner launch – the first demonstration with a crew on board – would put Boeing on track.
Wilmore and Williams were scheduled to spend just under a week on the International Space Station before returning on the Starliner for a parachute landing. However, when the Starliner docked with the space station, engineers discovered a series of helium leaks and problems with the spacecraft’s propulsion system that hampered its return to Earth.
Now NASA is considering undocking the Starliner without a crew to make way for the since-delayed arrival of SpaceX Crew-9 in September. If that happens, only two Crew-9 astronauts would arrive to relieve the Crew-8 astronauts who have been at the space station since March.
This would allow Wilmore and Williams to return home on the Dragon on February 25 once the Crew 9 team has finished its shift.
NASA officials could not say for sure Wednesday whether Starliner could still be approved for manned rotation missions if the capsule returns without a crew.
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]
