The two U.S. astronauts who had been at the International Space Station for nine months after their faulty Boeing Starliner capsule returned without them are finally heading home.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams left Earth in June on a test flight that was originally intended to last about nine days.
But their stay was extended after thrusters on Boeing’s Starliner capsule “Calypso” failed during docking, raising concerns about the ship’s ability to carry them home. The agency ultimately sent the capsule back empty after it was docked for about three months at the space station, saying it wanted to “further understand the root causes” of the spacecraft’s issues.
NASA also announced that Wilmore and Williams, who are both veteran astronauts and retired Navy test pilots, would return on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft instead. The agency adjusted its rotation of astronauts as a result, removing two people from SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission — which is returning to Earth this week — to make room for Wilmore and Williams.
That capsule carrying the two people on Crew-9 arrived at the ISS back in September. Crews rotate on the ISS, which means that each group of astronauts works until the next arrives at the space station, when a ceremonial “handover” occurs.NASA had originally planned for SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission — which needed to arrive before the Crew-9 members could come back down — to launch in February, but it was delayed by about a month.
The rocket carrying the four new crew members launched on Friday evening, and its capsule docked at the space station about 29 hours later.
Wilmore, Williams, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are set to splash down Tuesday evening, about 19 hours after closing the hatch on the SpaceX capsule, according to NASA’s estimated schedule.
The Starliner crew flight test was supposed to check a final box for Boeing and deliver a key asset for NASA. The agency was hoping to fulfill its dream of having two competing companies — Boeing and Elon Musk’s SpaceX — flying alternating missions to the ISS.
Instead, it’s unclear what Boeing’s future crewed space plans are. The company has lost more than $2 billion on its Starliner spacecraft.Wilmore and Williams’ journey became entangled in politics once President Donald Trump took office. Trump and Musk, who has become a close advisor to the president, urged a quicker Crew-10 launch and said without evidence that the two astronauts were “stranded” on the space station and that the Biden administration had kept them up there for political reasons. NASA had delayed the Crew-10 launch in December to allow more time to process a new Dragon capsule, but decided to use a reusable capsule to cut down on wait time.
NASA’s plans for returning the two astronauts have remained consistent since the agency announced them in August.
During their extended stay, Wilmore and Williams became part of a normal rotation, conducting scientific experiments and routine maintenance as any other astronaut on rotation at the ISS would. Williams also conducted a spacewalk.
Williams has said repeatedly that the pair doesn’t feel “abandoned” at the ISS, but that she was looking forward to returning home to see her family and her two dogs.
“It’s been a roller coaster for them, probably a little bit more so than for us,” she told reporters earlier this month.Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in six years on Sunday and blamed fast-fashion e-tailers Shein and Temu for its demise.
The retailer’s operating company is expected to cease all operations in the U.S. and has already begun liquidation sales at its more than 350 locations, but it’s still open for bids if a buyer is willing to take on its inventory and keep running its stores, court filings show.
Forever 21 has been seeking a buyer for several months and made contact with more than 200 potential bidders, 30 of which signed confidentiality agreements, but no viable deal has come together, court papers say. CNBC previously reported the operating company was in talks with liquidators and would have a hard time finding a buyer for its business.
The company’s bankruptcy comes six years after it emerged from its first filing only to face the Covid-19 pandemic, the highest inflation in decades, and new competition from Chinese-founded upstarts like Shein and Temu.
In a court filing, Stephen Coulombe, the operating company’s co-chief restructuring officer, said Forever 21 was “materially and negatively impacted” by Shein and Temu’s use of the de minimis exemption, which “undercut” its business. The exemption is a trade law loophole that has historically allowed goods valued under $800 to be shipped into the U.S. without import duties. President Donald Trump is trying to end it.
“Certain non-U.S. online retailers that compete with the Debtors, such as Temu and Shein, have taken advantage of this exemption and, therefore, have been able to pass significant savings onto consumers,” Coulombe wrote. “Consequently, retailers that must pay duties and tariffs to purchase product for their stores and warehouses in the United States, such as the Company, have been undercut.”
“Despite wide-spread calls from U.S. companies and industry groups for the U.S. government to create a level playing field for U.S. retailers by closing the exemption, U.S. laws and policies have not solved the problem,” he added.
The owner of Forever 21′s operating company, Sparc Group, which recently reorganized to form a new company dubbed Catalyst Brands, tried to counteract Shein’s competitive threat in 2023 by partnering with the upstart. But the deal didn’t do enough to stem the company’s losses or lead to any changes in de minimis rules, said Coulombe.
“The ability for non-U.S. retailers to sell their products at drastically lower prices to U.S. consumers has significantly impacted the Company’s ability to retain its traditional core customer base,” wrote Coulombe.
While Forever 21′s operating company is headed toward outright liquidation in the U.S., it doesn’t mean that the brand will cease to exist. Its international stores and website are expected to keep operating, and its brand name and other intellectual property owned by brand management firm Authentic Brands Group are not up for sale, CNBC previously reported.
The firm could still find new operators that are willing to run the business in the U.S., either now or in the future.
“We are receiving lots of interest from strong brand operators and digital experts who share our vision and are ready to take the brand to the next level,” Jarrod Weber, global president of lifestyle at Authentic Brands Group, said in a statement. “Our U.S. licensee’s decision to restructure its operations does not impact Forever 21′s intellectual property or its international business. It presents an opportunity to accelerate the modernization of the brand’s distribution model, setting it up to compete and lead in fast fashion for decades to come.”
After its first bankruptcy filing, Forever 21 enjoyed a period of respite where the business performed well. It had been bought by a consortium including Authentic Brands Group and landlords Simon Property Group and Brookfield Property Partners and had new capital and a trimmed down store fleet.
In fiscal 2021, it generated $2 billion in revenue and $165 million in EBITDA. But as competition and inflation increased, compounded by supply chain challenges and shifting consumer preferences, Forever 21′s performance began to sputter. In the last three fiscal years, the company lost more than $400 million, including $150 million in fiscal 2024 alone. The company projects it will lose $180 million in EBITDA through 2025.
Last year, Authentic Brands Group CEO Jamie Salter said at a conference that buying the business was “probably the biggest mistake I’ve made.” A few months later, CNBC reported that the company was asking landlords to cut its rent by as much as 50% as it looked to reduce costs and stave off a second bankruptcy filing. While those efforts generated $50 million in savings, it wasn’t enough to counteract the company’s losses.
The operating company currently owes $1.58 billion in various loans, and more than $100 million to dozens of clothing manufacturers, primarily located in China and Korea.
Founded in 1984, Forever 21 has long been credited as a leader in the fast-fashion movement. At its peak, the company employed 43,000 people and generated more than $4 billion in annual sales.
