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Indian-American astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have been stranded on the International Space Station for three months. While both the astronauts had to return to Earth in just eight days. But this was not possible. So now it has been announced that both of them will be brought back to Earth in February 2025 next year. So the question in everyone's mind is whether both of them will have to spend eight months in space till then.
Astronaut Frank holds this record
Both of them are not the only ones to spend such a long time on a single flight mission in the space station, but this record is held by NASA astronaut Frank Rubio. Frank has spent more than a year in space on the Singus space flight. He holds the record of spending 371 consecutive days in space. Frank Rubio will return on September 27, 2023 after spending 371 days on the space station. NASA broke the record of astronaut Mark Vande, who has spent 355 consecutive days in space.
Sunita Williams can make it to this list
Even if the days of different missions in space are added together, Peggy Whitson holds the record for the most days spent on the ISS, having spent a total of 675 days on the space station over multiple missions. She is followed by Jeff Williams who has spent 534 days on the space station over different missions.
However, Sunita Williams has already spent 322 days in space in previous missions and now when she returns after completing the Expedition-71/72 mission, she will have spent more than 560 days in space. In such a situation, she can come second in the list of astronauts who have spent the most time in space under various missions.
An eight-day mission turned into eight months
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore flew from Earth to the International Space Station on June 5 aboard Boeing's Starliner aircraft. The two astronauts were scheduled to return to Earth eight days later on June 13, but the mission had to be canceled repeatedly due to technical problems in the spacecraft. NASA and Boeing officials conducted several flight tests of the Starliner, but after studying the data, NASA considered it too risky to return the two astronauts with the Starliner. NASA decided to bring Sunita and Butch Wilmore back to Earth by February 2025 as part of the Crew 9 mission. The Crew 9 mission will be sent to the ISS by a Dragon capsule built by Elon Musk's company SpaceX. The Dragon capsule will bring back Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore.