NASA has announced that astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will return earlier than originally planned.
According to Hindustan Times, on February 11, 2025, NASA confirmed that following a request by US President Donald Trump to Elon Musk to bring the stranded astronauts back as soon as possible, the agency has revised their return plan.
Instead of sending a new spacecraft to bring back the Starliner astronauts, NASA decided to use the previously flown SpaceX Crew Dragon for its Crew-10 mission. This change will bring Williams and Wilmore home sooner than the original schedule.
NASA also announced it is accelerating the launch and return date for upcoming International Space Station crew rotation missions.
The launch, originally scheduled for March 25, has been moved up to Wednesday, March 12, 2025. However, this is “pending mission readiness and completion of the agency’s certification of flight readiness process.”
Furthermore, NASA explained that the mission management team decided to use the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule after the production of the new spacecraft was delayed.
NASA states, “Teams will work to complete Dragon’s refurbishment and ready the spacecraft for flight, which includes trunk stack, propellant load, and transportation to SpaceX’s hangar at 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida to be mated with the mission’s Falcon 9 rocket.”
Notably, the capsule used to bring Williams and Wilmore home, who were on a mission in June 2024, is called Endurance.
