Return of NASA astronauts from space station further delayed until late March

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore's return to Earth will be further delayed until at least late March, the agency said, taking what should have been an eight-day stay on the International Space Station to more than nine months.

They had travelled to the ISS in June for the test mission, but their return was extended by eight months to February, after the Boeing Starliner capsule they arrived on was deemed unfit to return them to Earth.

NASA said the pair, along with NASA astronaut Colonel Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Lieutenant Aleksandr Gorbunov, would return to Earth after the four-member Crew-10 mission, now expected to take off in late March, reaches the space station.

The agency did not specify a date for the return of the astronauts.

Col Hague and Lt Gorbunov boarded the ISS in September, over three months after Captain Williams and Commander Wilmore.

"Known as a handover period, it allows Crew-9 to share any lessons learned with the newly arrived crew and support a better transition for ongoing science and maintenance at the complex," the agency added in the statement.

The Crew-10 mission was originally slated to launch in February.

NASA said the delay was to give the teams time to complete processing on a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission.