NASA has accelerated the return of Boeing Starliner astronauts from the ISS

The US space agency has decided to replace SpaceX's new capsule with the previous Crew Dragon Endeavor capsule for the Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station (ISS), which will accelerate the return of the two astronauts who arrived in orbit with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, thus affecting other planned space missions.

NASA reversed that decision on Tuesday, replacing the capsule it planned to use for the next flight to the ISS, allowing the two Starliner astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, to return to Earth several days earlier than originally planned. They stayed in space longer than originally planned.

NASA has confirmed that mission control teams made the decision to use the previously launched SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule for the Crew-10 mission to the ISS, instead of SpaceX's new capsule, which had been postponed due to technical issues.

This decision postpones the launch of the Crew-10 mission to March 12, and NASA still has to assess the flight readiness of the previously launched Crew Dragon capsule, Endeavour, which has been used for three previous missions, writes cnn.

The return of astronauts Wilmore and Williams, who arrived at the ISS last summer on the Boeing Starliner capsule, which has had problems, was dependent on the arrival of the Crew-10 mission with four astronauts to maintain an American presence on the station.

This decision came after US President Donald Trump last month asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to "return Wilmore and Williams to Earth as soon as possible," demanding the completion of their mission.

Following Trump's request, NASA confirmed the plan to return astronauts, saying it would do so as soon as it was "practically possible."

The spacecraft change will affect SpaceX's planned private Fram2 mission, which would use the Endeavor capsule this year for a mission to polar orbit. The decision on the Crew-10 mission will also affect Axiom's Crew Dragon mission, which will carry astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary to orbit. Axiom is a company that organizes private and government missions using the Crew Dragon capsule.

SpaceX developed the Crew Dragon capsule using $3 billion from NASA's Commercial Crew Program, which aims to rely on private companies for spaceflight in hopes of stimulating the private market and reducing costs.

Boeing's Starliner returned to Earth in September without Wilmore and Williams, and was also developed under the same NASA program, but has been plagued by engineering flaws. The astronauts arrived at the ISS in June and were supposed to stay for just 10 days, but Starliner's flaws kept them there longer. They will depart for Earth on March 19, a few days earlier than planned. They will be joined by Crew-9 mission members NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. /Telegraph/