NASA says it is still not decided how to bring two stuck astronauts back to Earth

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NASA has said it has still not decided how to bring home two astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) after their spacecraft developed faults on their outward voyage.

In a news conference on Wednesday, the space agency said Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who arrived at the ISS in June expecting to be there for eight days, may yet have to stay until February.

The astronauts arrived there on a Boeing Starliner - the first crew to use the craft.

FILE - In this photo provided by NASA, Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, center, pose with Expedition 71 Flight Engineers Mike Barratt, left, and Tracy Dyson, aboard the International Space Station's Quest airlock on June 24, 2024. Officials said Thursday, July 18, there...s still no return date for Williams and Wilmore, who have been at the International Space Station since June 6. (NASA via AP, File)

This photo provided by NASA shows Boeing's Starliner spacecraft which launched astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station docked to the Harmony module's forward port on July 3, 2024, seen from a window on the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft docked to the adjacent port. (NASA via AP)

But the vessel suffered thruster failures and helium leaks en route, raising doubts about whether it could carry them back to Earth safely - leaving the pair in space limbo.

The thrusters are crucial for holding the capsule in the right position when it comes time to descend from orbit.

If NASA decides not to use the Starliner, which Boeing has said is able to return them safely, they would catch a ride on SpaceX's next flight, which would mean staying at the space station until next Februar.

But by that point, they will have been in space for eight months.

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NASA's space operations mission chief Ken Bowersox told reporters they are analysing more data before making a decision - either by the end of next week or the beginning of the next.

He said: "We've got time available before we bring Starliner home and we want to use that time wisely."

Switching to SpaceX would also involve standing down two of the four astronauts due to be on board the SpaceX flight, currently scheduled for late September.

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Astronauts on the International Space hold a tongue-in-cheek Olympics in space.

Wilmore and Williams would take the empty seats in SpaceX's Dragon capsule once that half-year mission ends.

NASA's safety chief Russ DeLoach added: "We don't have enough insight and data to make some sort of simple, black-and-white calculation."

Mr DeLoach said the space agency wants to make room for all opinions, unlike what happened on NASA's two shuttle tragedies, Challenger and Columbia, when dissenting views were ignored.

"That may mean, at times, we don't move very fast because we're getting everything out, and I think you can kind of see that at play here," he said.

One complication is that the space suits they used to travel to the ISS on Starliner would not be suitable on the SpaceX craft, if it's used to take them home, meaning they may have to return to Earth suitless.

The BBC, quoting Joel Montalbano, NASA's deputy associate administrator, said: "They would come unsuited in the [SpaceX] Crew Dragon."

Wilmore and Williams are retired navy captains who spent months aboard the space station years ago, been helping with experiments and repairs since they arrived.

NASA chief astronaut Joe Acaba said: "They will do what we ask them to do. That's their job as astronauts.

"This mission is a test flight and as Butch and Suni expressed ahead of their launch, they knew this mission might not be perfect."

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