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When astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore left Earth for the International Space Station nearly three months ago, they left behind their luggage for a crucial piece of equipment. Leading the first manned flight test of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, they left without their own toiletries and other personal amenities — and expected to return to Earth in about a week.

However, they have now been on the space station for more than 11 weeks, and NASA announced Saturday that they will remain there until early 2025. Uncertainties surrounding problems with its Starliner capsule have prompted the space agency to task SpaceX with stepping in and bringing the astronauts back in a Crew Dragon capsule instead.

So what exactly would Williams and Wilmore do for another five or six months in space?

The two are currently guests. They are not part of Expedition 71, the international crew of seven astronauts who serve as the space station’s official staff. Nevertheless, NASA has said they have integrated seamlessly into the group and taken on day-to-day tasks aboard the orbiting laboratory.

But now Williams and Wilmore are expected to become full-time crew members of the expedition, joining SpaceX’s Crew-9 astronauts, who are scheduled to launch on their mission on September 24.

As part of Crew-9 and the official expedition, Williams and Wilmore will perform typical crew duties, such as conducting spacewalks outside the space station, maintaining the orbiting laboratory, and running a tight schedule of science experiments.

And NASA has previously confirmed that the Starliner astronauts are ready for such a change.

“We made the decision a few years ago – knowing it was a test flight – to make sure we had the right resources, supplies and training for the crew in case for any reason they needed to stay on the ISS for an extended period of time,” said Dana Weigel, NASA’s International Space Station program manager. during a briefing on August 7.

“Butch and Suni are fully trained,” Weigel added. “They are capable and up to date on EVA (spacewalks), robotics and everything we ask of them.”

SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission is a routine flight to the space station to replenish the expedition’s crew. The mission was originally planned to be carried out with four astronauts.

However, according to NASA’s new plan, two of these astronauts will not make the trip. Instead, the Crew Dragon spacecraft will launch on its outbound journey with only two people on board.

Ballast, or lumps of metal that serve as dead weight, will fly alongside Crew-9’s two empty seats to maintain the Crew Dragon’s center of gravity, the space agency said at a press conference in early August as part of the explanation of the emergency plan.

The two Crew 9 astronauts will then join Williams and Wilmore aboard the space station and all four would complete the crew of Expedition 72, which will additionally include Russian cosmonauts and is expected to begin in September after a handover phase.

As is usual for routine missions to the space station, the Crew-9 astronauts will stay on board for about five to six months – so Williams and Wilmore will have another six months to spend in space in addition to the nearly three months they have already spent in space.

As part of Crew-9, they get used to a structured daily routine in which their day is usually planned hour by hour.

The astronauts have already taken on some of that daily work. According to recent updates from NASA, Williams and Wilmore have so far spent their time maintaining the space station, inspecting hardware, organizing cargo, conducting checks on the Starliner, and assisting with science experiments and engineering demonstrations.

On Friday, for example, Wilmore helped configure a new airlock built by U.S. company Nanoracks that will serve as a new access point for deploying satellites, experiments and other equipment.

But Williams and Wilmore also had a chance to have some fun in microgravity. NASA released footage of the astronauts on July 26 as they passed a plastic torch around the space station and mimicked Olympic events, including discus throwing and pommel horse throwing. (Exercising is an important task for astronauts to avoid losing too much muscle and bone density in space.)

By the way, Williams has already proven her skills as an outstanding space athlete.

In 2012, during an earlier flight to the International Space Station, she became the first person to complete a triathlon in space. Williams used a stationary bike, simulated swimming with a weight machine, and ran on a treadmill while strapped in with a harness to keep herself from floating away.

She accomplished this feat after running the Boston Marathon from the space station in 2007.

Williams and Wilmore spent a total of 500 days in space before launching on the Starliner’s test flight. Williams even said she cried when she left the space station after her final mission in 2012 because she didn’t know if she would ever return.

“This flight is a dream for them,” said a NASA commentator during a livestream of the Starliner launch on June 5.

It is not uncommon for astronauts to unexpectedly extend their stay on board the space station by days, weeks or even months.

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, for example, was scheduled to spend about six months aboard the International Space Station on his maiden flight into low Earth orbit, which was scheduled to begin in September 2022. Instead, he spent 371 days in space after a coolant leak was discovered on his original craft – a Russian Soyuz capsule – during docking with the orbital outstation.

Rubio’s year-long stay ultimately set a U.S. record for most continuous days in orbit.

Astronauts also regularly extend their stay on the station by days or weeks for various reasons, such as bad weather on Earth or other schedule changes.

Flying to the space station without their packed suitcases potentially made the comfort of the Starliner astronauts’ extended stay more difficult. NASA decided to remove their luggage from the spacecraft to make room for a much-needed pump to repair a broken toilet aboard the space station.

The two astronauts may have finally received a reprieve after a Northrop Grumman resupply mission reached the space station earlier this month.

“We want to keep our options open, so we have some things like clothing … some personal food items for (Williams and Wilmore) and things like that,” said Bill Spetch, NASA operations integration manager for the International Space Station program, during a press conference.

And there are no signs that food supplies will run out any time soon. Along with the 3.6 tons of scientific experiments and cargo that the Northrop Grumman ship was carrying, there was also a shipment of food, including meals and produce such as pumpkins, radishes, carrots, blueberries, oranges, apples and coffee, Spetch said.

Weigel also said Saturday that the space agency typically keeps about four months’ worth of food and water supplies on board the space station, and Northrop Grumman’s resupply flight helped replenish those supplies, leaving enough extra food on board for the ISS crew.

“Nobody had to go on a diet or restrict their calorie intake,” Weigel said.

Nevertheless, NASA said it needed to make a quick decision about how Williams and Wilmore would return to Earth because the space station’s supplies of food and other resources were not unlimited.

“While they’re up there, we have additional personnel and additional manpower, and they can do a lot more work. But they also use more consumables and supplies,” said Ken Bowersox, NASA’s deputy mission director for space operations, earlier this month.

“We need to get these people home and get back to a normal crew size on the ISS,” Bowersox added.