A pair of US astronauts stuck for more than nine months on the International Space Station will be returned to Earth on Tuesday evening, NASA said.
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams are to be transported home with another American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft, which arrived at the ISS early Sunday.
The stranded duo have been on the ISS since June after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing on its maiden crewed voyage suffered propulsion issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth.
NASA said in a statement on Sunday evening that it had moved forward the astronauts' anticipated ocean splashdown off the Florida coast to approximately 5:57 pm Tuesday EDT (3:27 am IST, Wednesday). It was initially slated for no sooner than Wednesday.
"The updated return target continues to allow the space station crew members time to complete handover duties while providing operational flexibility ahead of less favorable weather conditions expected for later in the week," the space agency said.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will also return on the Dragon capsule, with the journey to be broadcast live from Monday evening when hatch closure preparations begin.
For Wilmore and Williams, it will mark the end of an ordeal that has seen them stuck for nine months after what was meant to have been a days-long roundtrip.
Their prolonged stay was significantly longer than the standard ISS rotation for astronauts of roughly six months.
But it is much shorter than the US space record of 371 days set by NASA astronaut Frank Rubio aboard the ISS in 2023, or the world record held by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent 437 continuous days aboard the Mir space station.
Still, the unexpected nature of their prolonged stay away from their families -- they had to receive additional clothing and personal care items because they hadn't packed enough -- has garnered interest and sympathy.
Crew-10 joins ISS
Their return follows the arrival of the SpaceX Crew-10 mission, which launched on March 14 and docked with the ISS early March 16. The Crew Dragon spacecraft carried Nasa astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed the docking on social media, posting, "SpaceX Dragon docks with Space Station."
Nasa also released a statement confirming the docking. "Nasa astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, as the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the orbiting complex at 12:04 am EDT, while the station was roughly 260 statute miles over the Atlantic Ocean."
Crew-10 will take over responsibilities from Crew-9, which includes Wilmore, Williams, Hague, and Gorbunov. The ISS crew count will temporarily rise to 11 before the Crew-9 astronauts make their way back to Earth after completing the handover.
For Williams and Wilmore, this return will mark the end of an unexpectedly long and challenging mission. Standard ISS crew rotations typically last around six months, making their nine-month stay significantly longer than planned. However, their mission was still far shorter than the longest continuous spaceflight by a US astronaut -- 371 days, set by Nasa’s Frank Rubio in 2023 -- or the world record of 437 days held by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov.
Despite the delay, the astronauts continued their work aboard the ISS, assisting in various research projects and station maintenance. Their prolonged stay has drawn considerable interest and sympathy, particularly due to their lack of adequate personal items for such an extended period away from home.
