NASA and SpaceX are pushing up Crew-10’s launch date by reusing a previously flown Dragon spacecraft, Endurance. This strategic shift speeds up both Crew-10’s arrival and Crew-9’s return while ensuring mission safety.

NASA will return Starliner astronauts to Earth early along with their Crew-9 companions, after deciding to swap Crew-10 spacecraft to launch the SpaceX mission sooner.

After Elon Musk said SpaceX would rescue the “stranded” Starliner astronauts, NASA moved their return date up by two weeks — a slight adjustment to a plan that had already been in place for months.

NASA on Tuesday swapped out the astronaut capsule it plans to use for an upcoming routine flight to the International Space Station, a scheduling move that will allow a slightly earlier return for two Starliner astronauts who have been on the station far longer than expected.