Most space station missions last six months, with some reaching a full year. So, according to Dr Simeon Barber of the Open University, extending Butch and Suni’s already overdue space stay shouldn’t be a problem.
“I’m sure they’re already disappointed that they were going to miss Christmas at home with people. But it’s only two more months into what’s already a pretty long mission, and I’m sure if you ask them, I’m sure they’ll tell you that the space station is where they love to be,” he said.
The new crew is due to launch before Willmore and Williams return, and the next mission has been delayed by more than a month, the space agency said.
NASA’s next crew of four for the ISS was scheduled to launch in February 2025. The capsule with this crew was to bring home Butch and Suni, along with NASA astronauts Nick Haig and Roskosmos cosmonaut Alexander Garbunov as part of the regular crew rotation.
But the private sector company SpaceX has delayed the preparation of the new Dragon capsule for this mission. What is now planned to be ready for flight no earlier than the end of March.
NASA said it is considering using a different SpaceX capsule to launch a new crew to carry out the flights as scheduled.
But now it was decided that the best option would be to wait for a new capsule to carry the next crew.
