Astronauts Who Flew To Space Aboard Starliner Face Additional Delay

NASA has delayed the launch of SpaceX Crew-10 to late March 2025 to allow time for processing a new Dragon spacecraft, extending the stay of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on the ISS to about nine months. CNN reports: Williams and Wilmore launched to space in June, piloting the first crewed test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. Their trip, expected to last about a week, ballooned into a monthslong assignment after their vehicle experienced technical issues en route to the space station and NASA determined it would be too risky to bring them home aboard the Starliner.

The astronauts have since joined Crew-9, a routine space station mission originally slated to return to Earth no earlier than February after a handoff period with Crew-10. Now, Crew-10 will get off the ground at least a month later than expected because NASA and SpaceX teams need 'time to complete processing on a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission,' according to the space agency. 'NASA and SpaceX assessed various options for managing the next crewed handover, including using another Dragon spacecraft,' NASA noted in a blog post on Tuesday. 'After careful consideration, the team determined that launching Crew-10 in late March, following completion of the new Dragon spacecraft, was the best option for meeting NASA's requirements and achieving space station objectives for 2025.'

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