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Stranded Nasa astronauts are ready to return home

The world’s longest flight delay should soon be over.

On Sunday a SpaceX capsule reached the International Space Station with four astronauts who will allow Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to finally go home.

Wilmore and Williams flew to the ISS last June on a mission that was meant to last a week.

But technical problems with their Boeing Starliner spacecraft have stretched their time aboard to nine months, during which time about 110 million babies have been born and 43 million people have died back on Earth.

The SpaceX craft that will return Wilmore and Williams reached the ISS in September, but the pair stayed in orbit to do scientific research and routine maintenance until their replacements arrived.

Barring a major hiccup, neither astronaut will threaten a record set by Valeri Polyakov.

The Russian spent 437 days in space between 1994 and 1995, orbiting the Earth more than 7,000 times.


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