On June 5, two astronauts blasted off for the International Space Station (ISS). Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were only supposed to stay for eight days. That’s turned into eight months.

Why the change of plans? Problems with their Boeing Starliner spacecraft.

Taxi!

NASA used to fly its astronauts to the space station. In 2014, it hired Boeing and SpaceX to do the job instead.

First, the companies had to prove they could do the job safely. They had to launch and dock at the ISS, first on autopilot and then with a crew. SpaceX passed both tests in 2020.