Astronauts stuck in space close to return as rotation crew prepares for take off

Sub : Sci

Sec: Space sector

Context:

The upcoming NASA-SpaceX Crew-10 mission, launching from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, holds special significance as it marks the return of two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who have been stranded on the ISS for over nine months.
These astronauts have been aboard the ISS since June 2024 due to propulsion issues with their Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which rendered it unfit for their return.

Details:

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams were initially part of an eight-day mission but were stranded after their Boeing Starliner developed propulsion issues, rendering it unfit for their return.
As a result, they were reassigned to the Crew-9 mission, which arrived in September 2024.
To accommodate them, Crew-9 carried only two members instead of the usual four. The Crew-9 team will remain aboard the ISS until the arrival of Crew-10.
Once Crew-10 arrives, the handover will take place, and Crew-9 will depart the ISS for a planned ocean splashdown off the coast of Florida.

Crew-10 Mission:

The Crew-10 team consists of NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
The mission is planned for a duration of approximately six months, during which the crew will engage in various scientific experiments and maintenance tasks aboard the ISS.
These experiments will include flammability tests for future spacecraft designs and research on the effects of space on the human body.

International Space Station:

The ISS is a manmade space station or artificial satellite that is habitable for humans in space.
It is in the low-earth orbit and there are astronauts living onboard the space station conducting experiments on earth science, biology, biotechnology, astronomy, microgravity, meteorology, physics, etc.
The International Space Station was the brainchild of former US President Ronald Reagan, who in 1984 proposed building a permanently inhabited spacecraft in cooperation with a few other countries.
The ISS was developed and built by five space agencies namely, NASA (USA), Roscosmos (Russia), European Space Agency (ESA-Europe), JAXA (Japan) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA-Canada).
The station is divided into two sections: the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) is operated by Russia, while the United States Orbital Segment (USOS) is run by the United States as well as many other nations.