# ISS Crew--11 mission launches now, but will return when budget allows **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [August 10, 2025, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iss-crew-11-mission-launches-now-but-will-return-when-budget-allows/1021904 "2025-08-10T12:38:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iss-crew-11-mission-launches-now-but-will-return-when-budget-allows/1021904/1 "2025-08-10T12:38:18Z")
Article on Ars Technica: [With Trump’s cutbacks, crew heads to ISS unsure of when they’ll come back](https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/08/with-trumps-cutbacks-crew-heads-for-iss-unsure-of-when-theyll-come-back) > Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager, said the agency’s engineers are working with SpaceX to ensure the Dragon spacecraft can stay in orbit for at least eight months. The current certification limit is seven months, although officials waived the limit for one Dragon mission that lasted longer. > > “When we launch, we have a mission duration that’s baseline,” Stich said in a July 10 press conference. “And then we can extend [the] mission in real-time, as needed, as we better understand… the reconciliation bill and the appropriations process and what that means relative to the overall station manifest.” ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iss-crew-11-mission-launches-now-but-will-return-when-budget-allows/1021904/2 "2025-08-11T13:27:31Z")
Alternate title: NASA Plays Hardball with Trump Administration Future Headline? "Congress Passes F.U.C.K.D.E.M.A.S.T.R.O.N.A.U.T.S.\* Bill \*Federally Unfunding Critical Kapacity DEeMed A STupid Repulsive Offensive National Assault Undermining Trump’s Supremacy ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iss-crew-11-mission-launches-now-but-will-return-when-budget-allows/1021904/3 "2025-08-11T13:33:14Z")
If I’m reading this correctly “mission launches now, but will return when budget allows” is a clickbait-y thread title. It seems to me that they’re launching with the intent of coming back in 7 months. As they get closer to the end of the mission, if the budget allows, they’ll extend it. The reduced budget won’t go into effect until October of next year. > “When we launch, we have a mission duration that’s baseline,” Stich said in a July 10 press conference. “And then we can extend [the] mission in real-time, as needed, as we better understand… the reconciliation bill and the appropriations process and what that means relative to the overall station manifest.” ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iss-crew-11-mission-launches-now-but-will-return-when-budget-allows/1021904/4 "2025-08-11T16:55:04Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > It seems to me that they’re launching with the intent of coming back in 7 months. As they get closer to the end of the mission, if the budget allows, they’ll extend it. The article implies that it’s the other way around: crew rotations cost more money, so the mission will get lengthier if the budget is tight. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2026, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iss-crew-11-mission-launches-now-but-will-return-when-budget-allows/1021904/5 "2026-01-14T01:15:51Z")
Just reviving this, because Crew-11 [is coming back early](https://thespacereview.com/article/5136/1) due to a crewmember having a medical problem. The capsule should be back on Earth early Thursday (Jan. 15th). Surprisingly (for 2026), the person’s identity and the nature of the problem have not been disclosed so far.