Why Starliner's Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore were not on board the SpaceX capsule that returned to Earth

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A SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying four members of the Crew-8 mission departed from the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday after an interstellar stay of 235 days, marking the Elon Musk-led company's longest human mission. Splashing down off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, just before 3:30 am ET on Friday, October 25, the spacecraft safely landed in the Gulf of Mexico. However, this capsule, too, did not have any room for NASA’s stranded astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who left the home plant in June, believing they would be back home about one week later.

The NASA duo has since faced a series of setbacks that commenced with helium leaks and thruster malfunctions tied to their Boeing Starliner, which lifted off on June 4. Over four months later, Williams and Wilmore are still very much a point of interest as the world awaits their return to Earth. In August, NASA ultimately raised its hands in defeat, signalling that they wouldn’t return aboard the Starliner. Despite the rumoured tensions that possibly shaped into a rift between the US government agency and Boeing, NASA firmly established that it was dedicated to preserving its astronauts’ well-being above everything else.

And so, the Starliner spacecraft embarked on its journey home, unmanned, as it returned without its original crew members on September 6. In the meantime, Williams and Wilmore await the fruition of NASA’s new rescue mission for them, which eventually enlisted Musk’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission, which had yet to depart for the space station. With two seats empty on board the Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA’s Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, the SpaceX capsule lifted off on September 28. Two other astronauts, Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson, were meant to take off for the ISS with Hague and Gorbunov. Alas, their interstellar journey was not meant to be, as the company had to make room for the stranded astronauts, whose homecoming is currently slated for not before February 2025.

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore not on board the SpaceX Crew-8 mission spacecraft landing on October 25

Why didn’t Williams and Wilmore board the early-leaving Crew-8 mission spacecraft that could have brought them home today? The reason is simple: they were not assigned to the spacecraft. This mission’s capsule had already been assigned two four NASA astronauts, Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos’ Alexander Grebenkin, leaving no room for anyone. The Crew-8 members launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket on March 4, three months before Williams and Wilmore’s now-beleaguered spacecraft launched on an Atlas V rocket, marking the Starliner’s first crewed takeoff to the ISS

As of now, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have spent more than 18 weeks on the ISS. With another four or five months remaining before they join their two Crew-9 members on board the Crew Dragon, the pair is hard at work. According to CNN, they’ve joined Expedition 72, the international crew of astronauts serving as the ISS’ official staff.

What are the stranded NASA astronauts up to on the ISS?

During a September 22 ceremony, the Indian-origin astronaut even became the commander of the space station for the second time. Having spent all this time there, the NASA pair has warmed up to regular duties on the space station, naturally mingling with other staffers.

They’ve also been assigned their respective spots, and their responsibilities have doubled as part of the Crew-9 mission. Williams and Wilmore will participate in customary crew work, resulting in spacewalks outside the ISS and other science experiments.

Dana Weigel, NASA’s manager of the ISS Program, also announced during an early August briefing that they had already ensured that they had the “right resources, supplies and training for the crew” if they had to extend their stay on the ISS, especially since the Starliner’s journey was a test flight.

“Butch and Suni are fully trained,” Weigel further noted. “They’re capable and current with EVA (spacewalks), with robotics, with all the things we need them to do.”

Now that Crew-8 has safely landed on Earth, Crew-9's Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov, and their new crewmates Williams and Wilmore will help switch their capsule to the port that opened up after Crew-8 undocked from the space station. NASA’s recent updates revealed that the OG Starliner astronauts had invested their time in training for the task.

An October 18 update revealed, “Williams spent her shift in the Quest airlock cleaning cooling loops on a spacesuit and checking the suit’s other components.” Meanwhile, “ Wilmore set up the Sphere Cam-2 and filmed activities in the Destiny laboratory module in ultra-high resolution testing its ability to provide highly detailed mission imagery on future missions.”