NASA has decided to bring two astronauts Barry Wilmore and sonita Williams back to Earth on a SpaceX crew Dragon capsule early next year after boing Starliner capsule encountered serious propulsion issues originally the astronauts were supposed to return on Starliner which launched them to the International Space Station ISS on June 5th for an 8-day test mission however multiple Thruster failures and helium leaks during Starliner Journey have delayed their return for over 79 days raising significant safety concerns in a rare move NASA officials have opted to use spacex's crew Dragon for the astronauts return with the spacecraft slated for a February 2025 mission two of crew dragon's four seats will be reserved for Wilmore and Williams marking a significant shift in NASA's astronaut operations the decision is a major setback to Boeing which has faced years of setbacks at over $1.6 billion in budget overruns with Starliner since 2016