The idea was that the two Americans would spend eight days in space – but due to technical problems with the spacecraft they were traveling in, the prognosis quickly became around eight months instead. And now it looks like it will be ten.
A new crew must be sent up to the ISS before Wilmore and Williams can return. NASA's next crew consisting of four astronauts was scheduled to be sent up in February, and the stranded astronauts would then return to Earth at the end of the same month.
But SpaceX, which is conducting the spaceflights on behalf of NASA, needs more time to prepare the new spacecraft. The new crew's launch is therefore scheduled for at the earliest the end of March, but it may according to NASA be delayed until April.
