Cape Canaveral: NASA’s two stuck astronauts may end up back on Earth a little sooner than planned. The space agency announced Tuesday that SpaceX will switch capsules for upcoming astronaut flights in order to bring Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home in mid-March instead of late March or April.
That will shave at least a couple weeks off their prolonged stay at the International Space Station, which hit the eight-month mark last week. “Human spaceflight is full of unexpected challenges,” NASA’s commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said in a statement.