NASA Adjusts Schedule to Bring Starliner Crew Back Sooner 

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, members of Boeing’s first Starliner test flight, who were stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS) due to a faulty Boeing Starliner capsule, will return earlier than planned following NASA’s decision to replace SpaceX Crew Dragon capsules for the Crew-10 mission.

NASA Accelerates ISS Crew Rotation Date

The U.S. space agency said mission control teams have decided to use a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule called Endeavour for the Crew-10 mission instead of a new SpaceX capsule facing production delays.

The change allows Williams and Wilmore to return early. The astronauts have been on the ISS for much longer than planned, but now the Crew Dragon Freedom spacecraft, currently docked at the space station, will finally complete their long-delayed space mission.

The agency will assess Endeavour’s readiness before the flight, as it has already participated in three missions.

Crew-10: Mission’s Details

The agency’s Crew-10 launch, initially scheduled for March 25,  is now targeted for 7:48 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, March 12, pending mission readiness and completion of the agency’s certification of flight readiness process.

It will carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nicole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov to orbit.

‘NASA and SpaceX are accelerating launch and return dates for upcoming crew rotation missions to and from the International Space Station,’ NASA wrote in a blog post.

After Crew-10 arrives at the ISS, Crew-9 will spend several days helping the newly arrived crew familiarise themselves with the station’s ongoing science and operations. This ‘hand-off’ procedure facilitates a safer transition of operations aboard the orbital complex.

Only after all these procedures are completed will Crew 9 Commander Nick Hague, cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov, Starliner Commander Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore, and co-pilot Sunita Williams undock and head back to Earth aboard Crew-9.

SpaceX Helps Complete Failed Boeing’s Starliner Mission

Williams and Wilmore have been aboard the ISS since June 2024, after Boeing’s Starliner capsule suffered technical glitches. Their mission was initially expected to last just one week, but repeated delays have extended their stay.

‘Human spaceflight is full of unexpected challenges’, NASA commercial crew programme head Steve Stich said in a statement, praising SpaceX for its flexibility.

The Political Context in Space News About Boeing’s Starliner

President Trump’s interference with NASA’s ISS flight schedule has brought Wilmore and Williams unexpected political attention.

NASA had planned to return all four to Earth in February, but an additional month was added to the mission late last year because of the work required to prepare the Crew 10 Dragon for launch.

The space agency had already planned to return astronauts to Earth, but Donald Trump blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden, for the delay, even though Biden was not involved in the programme.

Just a week after his inauguration, President Donald Trump released a post on X, stating that he had instructed his close adviser, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, to ‘’go after two brave astronauts who were effectively abandoned in space by the Biden administration.’’

Elon Musk has joined these critical comments. As CEO of SpaceX, he should have known that his company’s Crew-9 Dragon and the Russian Soyuz capsule were ready and available as lifeboats for the entire station crew in an emergency. He also knew of NASA’s plans to get the astronauts home safely. Nevertheless, he supported Trump’s political attacks on the Biden administration.

Musk said in his X social media posts that Trump instructed him to bring Williams and Wilmore home ‘as soon as possible’.

‘We will,’ Musk’s post reads. ‘It’s appalling that the Biden administration left them there for so long.’

Crew-10 Change: How Will It Affect Future Missions?

The replacement of the Crew-10 spacecraft has affected SpaceX’s upcoming Fram2 private astronaut mission, which was supposed to use the Endeavour capsule for a mission to polar orbit later this year.

‘We lost the South Pole in daylight,’ wrote the mission commander, Maltese crypto entrepreneur Chun Wang, on X with a sad emoji, responding to rumours about the Crew-10 decision. The mission will use another Crew Dragon in the SpaceX fleet.

The change will also allow SpaceX, which owns and operates the Dragon fleet, to complete the internal assembly of the new spacecraft and final integration activities while launching Crew-10 and returning Crew-9 earlier.

The Crew-10 decision is also expected to affect the planned Axiom Crew Dragon mission, which will fly government astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary.