The latest on the astronauts stuck in space who say they 'don't feel like castaways'

There is a new update on the two American NASA astronauts as they entered 2025 still stuck in space and have been up there for over six months.

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams travelled to the International Space Station (ISS) on June 5 last year on board Boeing’s Starliner, in a mission that was supposed to last just eight days.

However, issues with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft emerged when docking at the ISS and so it returned to Earth without the pair inside in September due to safety concerns.

In this time, the two have voted in the US election and celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas up in space.

"The resupply spacecraft also carried special items for the crew to celebrate the holidays aboard the orbital platform," NASA explained in December, along with two cargo deliveries containing clothes, food, water and oxygen.

This image from a NASA video shows astronauts, from L to R, Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague, Don Pettit and Suni Williams aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as they speak with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on January 8, 2025Photo by Handout / NASA / AFP

The astronaut's return journey has been pushed back a number of times, most recently they had been scheduled to make the journey home in February but last month this was delayed once again.

This is due to issues with the SpaceX rocket that will take them back down to Earth, being behind schedule.

"Fabrication, assembly, testing, and final integration of a new spacecraft is a painstaking endeavour that requires great attention to detail," said NASA's commercial crew program manager, Steve Sitch.

"We appreciate the hard work by the SpaceX team to expand the Dragon fleet in support of our missions and the flexibility of the station programme and expedition crews as we work together to complete the new capsule’s readiness for flight."

So how are the astronauts feeling right now?

Both Wilmore and Williams appeared in good spirits when they spoke to NASA leaders in a live video event on Wednesday (January 8).

They were asked if they felt like 'castaways', in reference to the 2000 film starring Tom Hanks, where his character is stranded on a desert island.

Williams said both herself and Wilmore did not feel abandoned and added, "Eventually we wanna go home. "We left our families a little while ago," as reported by Sky News.

"But we have a lot to do up here and we have to get that stuff done before we go."

The plan is for the rocket to take NASA's next crew up to the ISS, where Wilmore and Williams, along with fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will take their places in the spacecraft and make their way home after their long-than-planned space stint.

Elsewhere, Astronaut shares heartbreaking 'realisation' after seeing Earth.

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