NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were supposed to be on an eight - day commission to the International Space Station ( ISS ) for the first crew test flight of the Boeing Starliner . But problems with the Starliner ’s pusher have meant that , while they did arrive safely , NASA officials have been hesitant for them to apply the fomite to return to Earth , and the pair have now been in space for over two month . Now , the yoke could travel home in a SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle in February 2025 .

NASA has previously said it was focused on make the spaceman home using the Starliner . But as the problems with the vehicle have dragged on , the bureau is now considering using a different vehicle for their safe tax return .

“ We ’ve got multiple choice . We do n’t just have to bring a crew back on Starliner , for example , we could bring them back on another fomite . That ’s something that we ’re going to have to deal with in the future , ” saidKen Bowersox , associate administrator of NASA ’s Space Operations Mission Directorate , in a briefing today .

He stress that this type of situation was why NASA is so nifty to have multiple vehicle useable : “ We could find ourselves in a site where we ask to bring a [ SpaceX ] Dragon work party or a [ Russian ] Soyuz work party back on a Starliner . That ’s why we want multiple vehicle , so that we have that choice . ”

In footing of the interior discussion about whether to keep working on getting the pair home or whether to trade to using the Dragon , Bowersoxsaid , “ We could take either path ” and that the government agency was “ getting more serious ” about value other selection than the Starliner .

NASA has insisted that the cosmonaut are not stranded and that they are not in any peril , and that they could use the Starliner in an emergency . For now , the pair are serve to perform jobs on the ISS , but they are also using up extra resourcefulness , so there is a balance to be struck in keeping them at the place . Also , presumably , the two astronauts who think they were go bad to space for just over a week but have now been there for over two months would like to return home at some point — although spaceman are used to plans commute , especially on a test flight , and are unlikely to object to make more clock time in distance .

If the duet were to expend a Dragon for the homecoming leg of their trip , it would demand NASA to send out just two astronauts on the Crew-9 mission , set to launch in September , instead of the common four . Then Wilmore and Williams could join them for their return to Earth in February next year . The issues with the Starliner have already induce thelaunch of the Crew-9 mission to be delayedfrom this month to next calendar month .

NASA says it has strive out to SpaceX to discuss options for using the Dragon for the counter of the Starliner crew , but the government agency has not yet made an announcement about definite succeeding plans .