The two NASA astronauts stranded on the International Space Station since June will return home a few weeks earlier than expected. 

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams could be back on Earth by mid-March after NASA decided to switch out the vessel used for the upcoming Crew-10 mission, according to a Tuesday statement from the space agency.

NASA had originally projected that the astronauts would return by late March.

The agency said it would use the Crew Dragon Endurance to bring the latest batch of astronauts to the ISS. The Endurance has already completed several flights, including bringing Crew-7 scientists to the ISS.

Mr. Wilmore and Ms. Williams, both part of Crew-9, cannot return to Earth until members of the Crew-10 mission arrive at the ISS. The astronauts’ return was delayed due to issues with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Freedom, their return craft. 

However, NASA said on Tuesday that the ship can now return to Earth after an extensive handover period with the incoming Crew-10 astronauts. 

The upcoming early return of the Crew-9 astronauts comes after President Trump ordered SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to bring Mr. Wilmore and Ms. Williams home as soon as possible. 

Mr. Musk agreed to do all he could, blaming the Biden administration for leaving the astronauts stranded on the ISS for so long. 

NASA officials announced plans in August to launch its Crew-10 mission using a newly constructed SpaceX vessel, with an expected return time in February. However, the craft took extra time to process, leading to the agency pushing the astronauts’ return date from February to late March.

• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.