Uncertainty over Starliner delays SpaceX’s Crew-9 astronaut launch by weeks

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft has been orbiting for almost two months longer than expected and is messing with the docking rotation at the ISS.

Houston, we have a problem.

SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is being significantly delayed, and it’s all thanks to the issue-riddled Starliner spacecraft, which is taking up docking space and still has no concrete plan for return to Earth.

The veteran astronauts who flew to orbit on the Boeing-built vessel continue to await word on when and how NASA and the company plan to bring them home. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been in space for 63 days — almost two months longer than expected — and there’s no clear return date in sight.

NASA announced Tuesday that the Crew-9 flight has been pushed back to no earlier than Sept. 24, after originally being scheduled to lift off on Aug. 18.

“This adjustment allows more time for mission managers to finalize return planning for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test currently docked to the orbiting laboratory,” NASA said in an update this week.

The Starliner launched on June 5 in its first-ever astronaut mission and was scheduled for a weeklong stay at the ISS.

That return date has long-since passed, and the spacecraft remains up there after multiple issues were identified on its way to the orbiting space station.