NASA’s two trapped astronauts have received even more bad news as their space mission is extended again and are now not expected back until the spring.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore, 61, and Suni Williams, 58, left the International Space Station in June and expected to return home just eight days later.
However, their mission was extended months after NASA decided in September to return the company’s defective Starliner capsule empty.
NASA has now announced that their mission has been postponed again, as their relief team has been delayed another month and their expected return would be ten months since they left Earth.
The next crew of four would launch in February, followed by the return of Wilmore and Williams at the end of the month along with two other astronauts.
However, the most recent announcement stated that SpaceX needs more time to prepare the brand new capsule for launch, and it is now scheduled for no earlier than the end of March.
NASA said it considered using another SpaceX capsule to fly the replacement crew to keep the flights on schedule, but decided they would wait for the new capsule.
Earlier this year, during the 60 Days celebration, many fans responded to the horror of the situation on social media, describing the delay as “torture.”
Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were only scheduled to spend a week in space and have now been told their excruciating wait will continue for at least another month
NASA has now announced that their mission has been postponed again, as their relief team has been delayed another month
One commenter wrote: ‘Stuck in space for 60 days with no known solution is inhumane and torture.
“Why did your teams send those astronauts in the first place? Where is the Change.Org petition to bring back the astronauts?”
Another concerned commenter wrote: ‘I hope they come back alive and tell us about it. Nightmare. Only happens in movies.’
The scandal-laden Starliner – which was built and developed with more than $4 billion in taxpayer money – was plagued by helium leaks and thruster problems in the weeks leading up to launch, and even on the day of it.
The spacecraft delivered Williams and Wilmore safely to the ISS, but by the time it got there, more helium leaks had developed and five of the 28 thrusters had failed.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft was plagued by technical problems even before its June 5 launch. NASA ultimately deemed it unsafe to return its crew to Earth.
The next crew of four would launch in February, followed by the return of Wilmore and Williams at the end of the month along with two other astronauts
The decision for their delayed return was humiliating for Boeing, which struggled for years to get their Starliner program off the ground, only to be rescued at the eleventh hour by their biggest competitor.
‘We have had so much shame lately that we are under a microscope. This just made it a hundred times worse,” one employee told the New York Post anonymously.
“We hate SpaceX,” he added. “We talk about them all the time, and now they’re saving us.”
A number of commentators have been fixated on the rivalry between Boeing and rival company SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk.
Both companies are part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP), but while Boeing’s Starliner is mired in failures, SpaceX capsules and rockets are being used routinely.
On X, which is also owned by Musk, one commenter wrote: “Space X needs to save them.”
Another added: “Elon will have to get them, won’t he…”
“How much is Elon going to charge for the Uber ride home?” another asked jokingly.
NASA prefers to have overlapping crews on the space station for smoother transitions, officials said.
Although Wilmore and Williams are used to long-range missions, most missions typically last six months, while few last a full year.