Nasa announces plan to return stranded astronauts from space next year (2024)

Jack Burgess
Live editor

Well that wraps up an out-of-this-world news conference.

If you want a quick summary of the latest, look no further:

Two Nasa astronauts who have been stuck in space for over two months will be returning to Earth in a SpaceX capsule next year.

The American space agency has said Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore - who are on the International Space Station (ISS) - will not return to Earth until February 2025.

It said the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they went into space on would return to Earth un-crewed.

The pair took off on what was planned to be an eight-day mission on 5 June but will now spend around eight months in orbit.

We're about to close this live stream page but you can keep reading with our stories here:

• Astronauts stuck in space will return with SpaceX
• Musk's SpaceX to destroy retired space station

Nasa has announced a plan to bring the two astronauts stuck in space back to Earth on a SpaceX ship next year.

Astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore have been unable to get home because of a problem with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft.

SpaceX's founder is the world's richest person, Elon Musk.

You can follow Nasa's announcement about its plan to bring two American astronauts stuck in space back to Earth by watching the stream at the top of this page.

We will not be publishing regular text updates about the conference on this page.

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were welcomed with hugs and applause upon on arrival at the International Space Station in June.

It was the first time Boeing’s Starliner, which came through a long and tortuous development programme, had been entrusted to carry people.

Watch their arrival below:

We’ve made this graphic showing how the Starliner is built for up to seven astronauts to ride on board:

Mike Wendling
Reporting from Chicago

When two American astronauts blasted off on a test mission to the International Space Station on 5 June, they were expecting to be back home in a matter of days.

But things didn't quite go to plan.

In fact, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams are still there, floating high above the Earth nearly two months later.

The pair - who are stuck indefinitely - now face the sudden prospect of missing the summer entirely and even spending Christmas and New Year in space.

Read more here.

Earlier this month, after it was revealed how long the pair of astronauts could be stranded, a cargo spacecraft has at the International Space Station(ISS) to deliver food, fuel and other supplies for those onboard.

The ISS is currently home to the Expedition 71 crew, and the two Nasa astronauts.

The Russian unpiloted Progress 89 spacecraft delivered about three tonnes of supplies, and will will remain docked for around six months before departing for re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere to dispose of trash.

Watch below:

Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent, BBC News

Boeing’s new Starliner spacecraft was launched on 5 June despite there being a small leak of helium gas.

The leak was extremely small and engineers believed that it would not affect the mission and so went ahead with the launch.

But four further helium leaks developed during the mission and five of its 28 manoeuvring thrusters cut out during the approach to the space station, four of which were restarted.

Nasa"adjusted" the spacecraft’s return to a date in July, saying that flight engineers wanted to study the spacecraft to get to the bottom of the faults before it re-entered into the Earth’s atmosphere.

The space agency stressed that the astronauts were not stranded and that Starliner was certified to return to Earth in the event of an emergency on the ISS.

What happens next will depend on the outcome of the agency review.

More here.

Rebecca Morelle
Science editor

There are several options on the table for Nasa.

The first is that Butch and Suni come fly back on Starliner as originally planned - and that could happen pretty soon.

The other option is that Starliner makes the journey back with no crew inside – and instead the two astronauts would come home in a SpaceX spacecraft – America’s other commercial crew transporter.

But because of scheduling, a trip home on Elon Musk’s capsule wouldn’t happen for some time - the return date would be set for February 2025.

Rebecca Morelle
Science editor

After months of mulling it over, Nasa is expected to announce how - and importantly - when - its astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will return to Earth.

They were supposed to have an eight-day stint on the International Space Station, but instead they’ve been up there for nearly 80 days.

The issue has been the spacecraft that carried them there - Boeing’s Starliner.

This was its first crewed test flight, but on its way to space it had problems with several thrusters and sprung leaks in its helium systems.

For the last few months Nasa and Boeing have been assessing whether the capsule is safe enough to bring the astronauts home.

Today we’ll get the results of their flight readiness review.

The fate of the two American astronauts stuck in space will be set out later - as Nasa scientists unveil their plan to bring them home.

Sunita Williams, 58, and Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 61, went into space on Boeing’s new Starliner spacecraft in early June but the spacecraft faced problems on the way out and it was deemed unsafe for them to return.

They’ve now been in space for more than two months while Nasa’s been evaluating the options to bring them back. Nasa will set out its decision at a news conference at 13:00 ET(18:00 BST).

You can watch live at the top of this page.