NASA is expected to announce a new return date for astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been attached to the ISS for more than eight months.
Sources from agencies tell Ars Technica's Eric Berger that the Space Agency will make a change with which Williams and Wilmore can come home in March 19.
This is about two weeks earlier than the existing public timeline for their return flight.
This change includes the exchange of the spacecraft that was originally intended to be used for SpaceX's Crew-10 mission for a difference SpaceX Craft.
The crew-10 mission was initially planned to launch in February, but a technical problem with the new Dragon Capsule SpaceX was intended to use NASA to push the launch back to March.
This decision also delayed the flight of Williams and Wilmore back to the earth from the International Space Station (ISS), where NASA gave an estimated return date from the beginning of April.
That's because the stranded astronauts are planning to hitch a lift home on the return flight of SpaceX Crew-9. The crew-9 astronauts and their spacecraft have been at the ISS with Williams and Wilmore since 29 September.
But they cannot leave the space station until the crew-10 astronauts arrive to replace them.
That is because the NASA protocol requires a 'transfer period' or a time window where the previous ISS crew overlaps with the incoming crew to share information with them and to guarantee a smooth transition between the two teams.
This is a developing story. More updates to come.
NASA is expected to announce a new return date for astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been tied to the ISS for more than eight months
