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NASA faces a critical decision as two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) may be forced to stay in orbit until February 2025 due to ongoing concerns over the safety of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that brought them there.

Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and pilot Sunita “Suni” Williams, who arrived at the ISS in June as the first crew to test Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, were originally scheduled to return to Earth by now.

However, their mission has been indefinitely extended after the Starliner suffered thruster failures before docking with the ISS, raising serious safety concerns.

NASA is now weighing the possibility of returning the astronauts on a SpaceX flight rather than risking the troubled Starliner. If this backup plan is chosen, Wilmore and Williams would watch from the ISS as the Starliner is sent back to Earth unmanned, potentially extending their stay in space until February 2025.

A final decision is expected by mid-August.

This dilemma could have ripple effects on NASA’s upcoming SpaceX crew mission in September, potentially leaving two astronauts grounded to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the February return flight.

The uncertainty has already sparked concerns within NASA, with Space Operations Mission Chief Ken Bowersox admitting that the choice is far from clear.

Boeing insists that the Starliner could still safely bring the astronauts home, but ongoing issues—including thruster failures during ground tests and helium leaks in the propulsion system—have cast doubt on the capsule’s reliability.

NASA’s commercial crew manager, Steve Stich, revealed that engineers are still baffled by the cause of the thruster problems and have not yet seriously considered launching a separate SpaceX mission solely to retrieve the stranded astronauts.

As technicians work to resolve these technical challenges, the fate of Wilmore and Williams hangs in the balance, with NASA facing one of its most critical decisions in recent spaceflight history.

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