Astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams discussed their extended nine-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) after a malfunction in their Boeing Starliner. Initially meant to be a short stay, their mission got prolonged when the spacecraft had to be returned to Earth uncrewed. Their eventual return journey involved a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, marking a significant operational collaboration between NASA and SpaceX. The duo, along with fellow astronauts, eventually ended their mission, which lasted 286 days but remained far shorter than the world record for time spent in space.
Williams and Wilmore's extended mission concluded after 286 days, significantly shorter than the world record of 437 days in orbit held by the late Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov.
Prompted by spacecraft malfunction, NASA and Boeing decided to send Starliner back to Earth uncrewed, extending Wilmore and Williams' stay at the ISS to nearly nine months.
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