Under new plan, NASA's 2 stuck astronauts expected to return sooner

Cape Canaveral: NASA's two stuck astronauts may return to Earth sooner than expected. The space agency stated Tuesday that SpaceX will switch capsules for the next astronaut flights, bringing Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home in mid-March rather than late March or April.

That will cut at least a couple of weeks off their eight-month stay aboard the International Space Station, which hit the 8-month mark last week.

“Human spaceflight is full of unexpected challenges,” NASA's commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said in a statement.

The test pilots were supposed to return in June on Boeing's Starliner capsule following a week-long flight demo. However, the capsule had so many problems getting to the space station that NASA opted to return it empty and reassign the duo to SpaceX, AP reported.

Then SpaceX delayed the launch of their replacements on a fresh new capsule that required extra preparation, extending Wilmore and Williams' mission.

With still more work expected for the new capsule, NASA decided to send its next crew up in an older spacecraft, with liftoff scheduled for March 12.

This older capsule had already been assigned to a private crew, which was set to launch this spring.

The private flight arranged by Houston company Axiom Space, which included astronauts from Poland, Hungary, and India, was postponed and will launch later to the space station, likely this spring.

NASA wants to have a new crew arrive before returning the old one, which has been in space since September with Wilmore, Williams, and two others. The next crew will include two NASA astronauts, one from Japan, and one from Russia.