Summary

  • Two Nasa astronauts stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) since last summer have been giving an update on their return to Earth - watch their news conference back at the top of the page

  • Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore left Earth in June 2024 for an eight-day mission to test Boeing Starliner's capsule

  • But Nasa decided to keep them on the ISS after the capsule suffered technical problems and returned to Earth empty

  • "We came up prepared to stay long, even though we planned to stay short," Wilmore says, adding that human space flight "is all about planning for unexpected contingencies"

  • Williams and Wilmore are expected to make the trip home on an alternative craft - a SpaceX Crew Dragon - "no earlier than 12 March"

What will they miss about space?

Live Reporting

Edited by Andrew Humphrey

  1. The eight day mission that turned into eight months

    Adam Goldsmith
    Live reporter

    Butch Wilmore and Suni WilliamsGetty Images

    Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have spent a little more time hurtling around Earth than they intended.

    The two astronauts arrived on the International Space Station (ISS) in June, for a planned eight-day stay above the Earth’s atmosphere.

    But a fault with the Starliner capsule discovered during the outward flight has forced them to remain onboard since the summer.

    The original Starliner flight was the capsule’s first test flight with astronauts on board, and was also airline company Boeing’s first effort to take astronauts to the ISS.

    Eight months later, the astronauts are set to speak with reporters about their return to Earth.

    Wilmore and Williams will be joined on the call by Nasa astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. The pair arrived at the ISS on a Dragon capsule in September, which now has two empty seats ready to take the first astronauts home.

    While we wait for the news conference to begin our science team will explain just how exactly the unfortunate Wilmore and Williams ended up stuck in the first place.