It would appear that the Starliner astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, will end up staying on the International Space Station (ISS) for at least eight months, which is a longer period of time than a typical visit to the orbiting lab spans. However, they're not the first to spend more than six months in space, and NASA has medical studies to help them along during their adventure.
As of now, Wilmore and Williams are expected to return home in February 2025 on a SpaceX Crew Dragon alongside two members of the Crew-9 expedition. That's in contrast to the Starliner duo's original return date, which was slated for earlier this year and would have made their trip, which began in early June, last a mere eight days or so. The move to extend the mission was months in the making — but, arguably, not a fully unexpected conclusion. Starliner's "Crew Flight Test" that the astronauts flew, as the name implies, is developmental.
