NASA has announced that the two American astronauts stuck aboard the International Space Station since last June could return to Earth slightly earlier than expected, around mid-March. This decision follows the president's promise. Donald Trump to repatriate them as soon as possible.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived in June aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, intending to stay for eight days. However, technical failures forced NASA to revise its schedule.
The space agency had initially announced in August that Boeing rival SpaceX would return them in February. However, the operation was postponed again until late March, as SpaceX prepared to launch a new ship.
Elon Musk, head of SpaceX and now a close advisor to Donald Trump, stated at the end of January that their return would be organized "as quickly as possible", echoing the statements of the Republican president, who blamed the delay on his predecessor Joe Biden.
In September, SpaceX's Crew-9 mission flew to the International Space Station with only two astronauts instead of the planned four, in order to free up two spots.
The Crew-10 spacecraft, planned to bring back the two astronauts, was originally scheduled to launch in February, but its departure was pushed back to "late March at the earliest" to allow for the completion of a new spacecraft.
On his social network Truth Social, Donald Trump published at the end of January: "Elon will soon start the mission. Let's hope everything goes well. Good luck, Elon!!!", without specifying the exact date of the return.
NASA has set the new launch date for March 12, provided everything is ready on time. The agency said it had decided to adjust the original schedule in consultation with SpaceX.
For this mission, NASA will use an already-in-service Dragon capsule, called Endurance, and the astronauts will return after a transition period of several days between the teams on board.
At a press conference in early January, Wilmore and Williams assured that they were adjusting well to their extended stay and were busy with various scientific experiments.
Despite the extended duration of their mission, their time aboard the International Space Station remains short of the record set by Frank Rubio, who spent 371 days on the ISS in 2023 after a coolant leak on his Russian spacecraft scheduled to return.
