The pair of US astronauts have been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) for more than nine months. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has confirmed that they will return to Earth on Tuesday evening.
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.
In a statement on Sunday evening, NASA said it had moved the astronauts’ anticipated ocean splashdown off the Florida coast to nearly 5:57 p.m. on Tuesday (21:57 GMT and 3:30 a.m., March 19, IST). It was initially slated for no sooner than Wednesday.
The duo has been on the ISS since June last year 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.
“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.
In a statement, NASA said it will provide live coverage of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 return to Earth from the ISS, beginning with Dragon spacecraft hatch closure preparations at 10:45 p.m. EDT Monday, March 17 (around 8:45 A.M. on March 18 in Nepal).
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will return on the Dragon capsule. The slated journey will mark the end of an ordeal for Wilmore and Williams that has seen them stuck for nine months after what was meant to have been a days-long roundtrip.
While the extended stay of Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams aboard the ISS was much longer than the typical six-month rotation for astronauts, it falls short of the US space record of 371 days set by NASA astronaut Frank Rubio in 2023 or the world record of 437 days held by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov aboard the Mir space station.
The unexpected length of their time away from their families had drawn massive attention, speculation, and concerns. Due to the unforeseen extension, both astronauts had to receive extra clothing and personal care supplies, as they hadn’t packed enough for such an extended mission.
