They were supposed to return to Earth after a week, they would stay until February. They were given coffee and apples

Starliner passengers on the ISS joined the 71st international expedition crew of four Americans and three Russians in June. Last week NASA announced that they will remain on the ISS until February 2025 due to technical problems with their capsule.

Although they are not officially part of it, the US agency says that Barry “Butch” Wilmore – the mission commander – and Sunita “Suni” Williams quickly integrated into the group and carry out daily tasks, including research in the laboratories.

“Butch and Suni are fully trained … they can do spacewalks outside the station, they can work with robots and they will do everything we need them to do,” Dana Weigel, NASA's International Space Station program manager, said last week. Their duties also include maintaining the orbiting lab and conducting science experiments.

Last week, a shipment of equipment and food arrived for the astronauts. The 3,700-kilogram “shipment” included experimental equipment, food, including pumpkins, broccoli, apples, oranges and coffee. NASA emphasized that more supplies for the nine astronauts are to be delivered in a few months.

The ISS is equipped with its own oxygen production systems, so the crew does not have to worry about its air supply.

NASA is considering the possibility of a Boeing Starliner returning without astronauts on board. The capsule must be undocked because there are too few “parking spots” on the International Space Station. That doesn't mean the astronauts would stay on the ISS forever – they'd be assigned to a return trip on SpaceX's Crew-9 mission.

Crew-9 is scheduled to make a routine trip to the ISS to replenish the expedition no earlier than September 24. The mission is currently scheduled to carry four astronauts, including three from NASA: Zena Cardman, Nick Hague and Stephanie Wilson, and Aleksandr Gorbunov from the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

According to the Starliner contingency plan, two crew members will be removed from the mission. Their names have not yet been released. Ballast will be placed in their seats, as the ship is balanced for a crew of four. Once at the ISS, the two astronauts from Crew-9, along with Suni and Butch, will form the 72nd expedition, which will last five to six months.

Starliner is a manned spacecraft manufactured by Boeing. Its first, test mission with people on board was plagued with problems from the start. The initial launch was canceled twice – first due to a launch vehicle failure, then due to a helium leak.

Finally, the mission of Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams began on June 5 of this year. A day later, during their flight, there was a helium leak, and five of the 28 engines failed. Just before docking the capsule, the astronauts managed to start two of them. The Americans were originally supposed to stay on the station for several days.

Boeing has plans for the Starliner to be used for commercial flights in the future. cosmos.