Synopsis
After a prolonged stay on the ISS, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams are set to return to Earth tomorrow aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. NASA has confirmed the new splashdown schedule, marking the end of their unexpected nine-month mission.Key Takeaways
- Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams return to Earth.
- They have been on the ISS for over nine months.
- SpaceX Crew Dragon will transport them home.
- Return scheduled for Tuesday evening.
- Extended stay was due to propulsion issues with their spacecraft.
New York, March 17 (NationPress) After more than nine months of being stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA has announced that the two US astronauts will finally make their return to Earth on Tuesday evening.
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams will be brought home along with another American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which docked at the ISS early on Sunday.
NASA stated on Sunday evening that the astronauts' ocean splashdown off the coast of Florida has been rescheduled to approximately 5:57 p.m. on Tuesday (21:57 GMT and 3:30 a.m. IST on March 19), moving it up from the original plan of no sooner than Wednesday.
The astronauts have been residing on the ISS since June of last year, following propulsion issues with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that they were testing on its inaugural crewed flight, rendering it unfit for their return.
“The updated return target allows the crew members aboard the space station to finish handover responsibilities while also providing operational flexibility given the less favorable weather conditions expected later in the week,” the space agency remarked.
NASA also announced that it will provide live coverage of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 returning to Earth from the ISS, starting with the Dragon spacecraft hatch closure preparations at 10:45 p.m. EDT on Monday, March 17 (around 8:30 a.m. IST on March 18).
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will also return on the Dragon capsule. This upcoming journey will conclude a challenging period for Wilmore and Williams, who have been trapped for nine months when what was anticipated to be a brief roundtrip extended into an arduous ordeal.
While the prolonged stay of Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams at the ISS was significantly longer than the usual six-month rotation for astronauts, it remains short of the US space record of 371 days set by NASA astronaut Frank Rubio in 2023, and the global record of 437 days held by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on the Mir space station.
The unforeseen extension of their time away from loved ones has attracted considerable attention, speculation, and concern. Due to this unexpected duration, both astronauts had to receive additional clothing and personal care items, as they were not prepared with enough supplies for such a lengthy mission.
