“The change gives NASA and SpaceX teams time to complete processing on a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission. The new spacecraft is set to arrive to the company’s processing facility in Florida in early January,” the agency explained.
As a result, Williams and Wilmore’s return to Earth has been postponed until at least March 2025.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has seemingly urged Elon Musk to expedite their return. Posting on Truth Social last night (January 28), he stated:
*”I have just asked Elon Musk and Space X to ‘go get’ the two brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration.
“They have been waiting for many months on Space Station. Elon will soon be on his way. Hopefully, all will be safe. Good luck Elon!!!”*
Musk acknowledged the post on Twitter earlier today, responding with a salute emoji.
Although Trump has criticized “the Biden Administration” for “virtually abandoning” the astronauts, NASA maintains that it, along with SpaceX, “assessed various options for managing the next crewed handover, including using another Dragon spacecraft and manifest adjustments.”
“After careful consideration, the team determined that launching Crew-10 in late March, following completion of the new Dragon spacecraft, was the best option for meeting NASA’s requirements and achieving space station objectives for 2025,” the agency stated in its blog post.
