NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, already stuck in space, are hit with new delay

(The Hill) – The two NASA astronauts stuck in space after Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft experienced issues earlier this year have been hit with a new delay.

Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, the crew of the first manned Boeing Starliner launch in early June, were initially meant to spend only about eight days in space. But concerns over the spacecraft's helium leaks and thrusters prompted NASA delay their return from the International Space Station (ISS).

The capsule ultimately returned to Earth uncrewed in September.

A new SpaceX craft was meant to be used for the return mission of the two astronauts, but NASA pushed back the mission from February to late March.

In a press release issued Tuesday, NASA said its SpaceX Crew-10 will dock with the ISS "no earlier than late March" and — after a handoff period with the current ISS crew — Williams and Wilmore will return to Earth.

With another delay in getting them home, Wilmore and Williams will have been on the ISS for nine months.

NASA said the timeline change allows its teams to “complete processing” on a new spacecraft for the mission. It’s set to arrive at the company’s Florida facility in early January.

“Fabrication, assembly, testing, and final integration of a new spacecraft is a painstaking endeavor that requires great attention to detail,” Steve Stich, the manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said in a statement.

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