Astronauts return home after nine-month space delay


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After more than nine months stranded aboard the International Space Station, US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams began their journey back to Earth early Tuesday aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Capsule “Freedom.”

The two astronauts, alongside American Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov from the Crew 9 mission, are scheduled to splash down off Florida’s coast at approximately 5:57 p.m., NASA confirmed.

The extended stay in space wasn’t part of the original plan for Wilmore, 62, and Williams, 59. Their mission, initially scheduled for just 10 days last summer, was unexpectedly prolonged when their Boeing Starliner capsule experienced mechanical failures and leaks, forcing NASA to return the vessel to Earth empty.

This setback dealt a significant blow to Boeing’s commercial spaceflight program, leaving SpaceX as the only viable option for the astronauts’ return journey.

Their departure had to wait until SpaceX’s Crew 10 arrived at the station over the weekend to take over their responsibilities. The extended mission means Wilmore and Williams have accumulated roughly 285 days in space, earning them the sixth position among NASA’s single spaceflight record holders, just shy of Peggy Whitson’s 289-day record.

The current record holder remains Frank Rubio at 371 days, following his own extended stay caused by a leak in Russia’s Soyuz capsule in 2022.

Elon Musk has suggested that former President Joe Biden’s administration deliberately delayed plans for an earlier return, though Biden officials have strongly rejected claims that the astronauts were kept in space for political reasons.

 

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