After spending nearly nine months stranded at the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have finally begun their long-awaited journey back to Earth. The Crew-10 Mission’s Dragon spacecraft successfully undocked from the ISS on Tuesday, marking the start of their 17-hour return journey.
Williams and Wilmore, along with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, are expected to splash down off the coast of Florida at 3:27 AM IST on March 19.
The Crew-10 mission, launched earlier this month, was specially designed to bring back the stranded astronauts. A Falcon 9 rocket, carrying a Dragon spacecraft, lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 10. Four new astronauts – NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov – boarded the Dragon spacecraft and successfully docked with the ISS on Sunday to replace the returning crew.
The unexpected nine-month stay of Williams and Wilmore was caused by technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which was meant to bring them back on its maiden crewed mission in June 2024. Due to propulsion malfunctions, the spacecraft was deemed unfit for their return.
NASA, in an official statement, confirmed that live coverage of the SpaceX Crew-9 return to Earth will be provided as the agency closely monitors the re-entry process.
