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2 Astronauts Stuck in Space Indefinitely After 8-Day Mission Goes Awry

NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Saunita Williams have been stuck in space since June, and could remain there until 2025 due to a Boeing spacecraft malfunction.

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Boeing, meanwhile, believes the Starliner is fit to bring Wilmore and Williams home.

“CFT is currently a crewed mission, and we still believe in Starliner’s capability and its flight rationale,” the company said in a statement to E! News. “If NASA decides to change the mission, we will take the actions necessary to configure Starliner for an uncrewed return.”

However, NASA officials said “no firm decisions” have been made for next steps during an Aug, 7 press conference, per the BBC. The predicament, however, is a matter of seat availability and cost. There are currently spacecrafts to get astronauts back to Earth at the space station, the Associated Press noted, but all seats are accounted for by members of other missions (There are currently four other Americans and three Russians aboard the International Space Station, in addition to Wilmore and Williams).

Butch, SuniKirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

Former NASA official Scott Hubbard told the Associated Press that the astronauts are only “kind of stuck,” as they are currently residing in the space station, with other astronauts and plenty of “supplies and work to do.”

If the Streamliner is not deemed fit for traveling back to Earth, it will be cut loose to make room for the SpaceX Dragon at the space station, and SpaceX will send only two astronauts on its mission next month, to save room for Wilmore and Williams on its four-person spacecraft, per AP.

As for how Wilmore and Williams are feeling? Neither of the astronauts have commented on the prospect of staying in space until 2025, but both are retired Navy captains and, the Associated Press reported, have “long” space missions behind them already.

“After maybe a week of going up there, it feels like you’ve been there your whole life,” Williams explained of space travel in an interview with India Today in 2016. “It feels natural.”

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