NASA announces plan for how and when astronauts stuck in space will be rescued

NASA has announced a plan for when the astronauts stuck in space will be able to return to Earth.

Back in June, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore set off with the expectation that they'd be spending a matter of days in space.

But over two months later, and the pair are still there, after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft which carried them to the International Space Station (ISS) began to experience technical issues.

The pair have been up in space for months. (Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

The capsule experienced a malfunction in five maneuvering thrusters, had five helium leaks, and saw one of its propellant valves fail to close completely ahead of its docking on the ISS.

Because of the problems, the astronauts have had to stay up in space on the ISS while NASA works out how to bring them down.

Although the pair have shared an update recently, reassuring the public that they're 'doing great', many have been concerned about how the pair will return to Earth.

In a new update, NASA has now said that Williams and Wilmore will return next February, on a SpaceX Dragon flight of which two seats have been made available.

The decision came after a review over the weekend, in which a plan was discussed.

“Nasa has decided that Butch and Suni will return with [SpaceX’s] Crew-9 next February, and that Starliner will return uncrewed,” NASA administrator, Bill Nelson said in a statement.

“I want you to know that Boeing has worked very hard with Nasa to get the necessary data to make this decision. We want to further understand the root causes and understand the design improvements so that the Boeing Starliner will serve as an important part of our assured crew access to the ISS.

“Space flight is risky, even at its safest and even at its most routine, and a test flight by nature is neither safe nor routine, and so the decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring the Boeing Starliner home uncrewed is a result of a commitment to safety."

The pair will return in February (Manoj Verma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

It's reported that there was 'too much uncertainty' around bringing the team back on the Boeing Starliner that they travelled to space on.

This was Boeing's first ever test flight with a crew aboard. The initial demo in 2019, which flew empty, never made it to the space station because of bad software.

They repeated the test in 2022, however, no more issues arose.