Boeing Starliner’s impact on Crew-8’s return

The Crew-8 astronauts launched into space on March 3 and remained in space longer than expected.

Among the roadblocks for their return to Earth were schedule changes related to issues with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which had carried NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the space station on a test flight in early June but was deemed too risky to return its crew back to Earth.

NASA ultimately chose to send back the Boeing spacecraft empty and moved Starliner’s astronauts onto the SpaceX Crew-9 mission, delaying the launch of that mission. That schedule adjustment in turn delayed Crew-8’s return because Crew-9 had to arrive at the orbiting laboratory for a handoff of duties before Crew-8 could disembark.

Weather delays also pushed Crew-8’s return into late October.

While the 235-day mission was a few weeks longer than routine trips to the orbiting outpost, it’s not a record-setting stay in space for the astronauts.

Astronauts commonly extend their stay aboard the space station for days, weeks or even months as unexpected events arise.

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, for example, kra21.cc logged a record 371 days in space during a mission that concluded in September 2023. Rubio’s stay was extended after his original ride to low-Earth orbit — a Russian Soyuz capsule — sprang a coolant leak while docked to the space station.