Their Boeing spaceship doesn’t seem to be able to return the two men who have been in space for almost 60 days to Earth until early 2025.
A competing company’s spacecraft—SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk—may be required to rescue Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station, according to NASA.
They launched a Boeing Starline spacecraft to the International Space Station in June, but problems with helium leaks and engine malfunctions have made their first mission a complete failure.
It is becoming more probable that Butch and Suni will remain on the ISS until next year, even though their original duration was scheduled to be only one week.
