NASA asks ELON MUSK's Space X for assistance announcing that astronauts already stranded in space for 80 days won't return to earth till February 2025 (VIDEO)

Sunday, August 25, 2024 - The two Boeing Starliner astronauts who have been stranded in space for 80 days will stay for another six months, NASA officials announced Saturday, August 24 in a worrying statement.

Over two months ago, Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams went on a NASA mission to space with Boeing Starliner spaceship after NASA snubbed Elon Musk's Space X to give a multi billion dollar deal to Boeing for space missions.

After the space ship developed faults, NASA now says the astronauts are now expected to return to Earth in February using Elon Musk's Space X's spaceship, while the Boeing Starliner will be brought back to earth unmanned.

Veteran astronauts, Wilmore and Williams launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner back on June 5, the maiden crewed voyage for the spacecraft — for what was supposed to be an eight-day mission docked to the International Space Station.

The test flight, however, encountered thruster failures and helium leaks so serious that NASA kept the capsule parked as engineers tried to find a solution.

Today makes it the pair’s 80th day in space. Wilmore and Williams will return as part of a SpaceX Dragon Crew-9 mission, officials said.

The decision to bring the astronauts to earth in February was the result of a “commitment to safety,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson explained.

But NASA is still “100 percent” certain the Starliner will launch with an astronaut crew again in the future, Nelson added.

“This has not been an easy decision, but it is absolutely the right one,” NASA Associate Administrator James Free said.