US astronauts stranded on the ISS for nine months are scheduled to return to earth on Tuesday, NASA said. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams’ flight on the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft to their home planet will be broadcast live.
Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams are due to be flown home with another American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which arrived at the ISS early Sunday morning.
The stranded American astronaut couple have been on the ISS since June after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which was being tested on its first crewed flight, developed propulsion problems and was deemed unfit to return to earth.
A NASA statement released Sunday night said the astronauts’ intended landing in the ocean off the coast of Florida has been postponed until about 5:57 p.m. Tuesday due to favourable weather conditions. The astronauts were originally scheduled to return to Earth no earlier than Wednesday.
“The updated return target continues to allow space station crew members time to perform transfer-of-control duties while providing operational flexibility ahead of less favourable weather conditions expected later in the week,” the US space agency said in a statement.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov will also return on the Dragon capsule, and their flight will be broadcast live from Monday evening as preparations for hatch closure begin.
For Wilmore and Williams, the return will mark the end of a difficult ordeal that left them stranded for nine months.
Their extended stay was significantly longer than the standard astronaut stay on the ISS, which is about six months. But it was far shorter than the US record of 371 days set by NASA astronaut Frank Rubio aboard the ISS in 2023, or the world record set by Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who spent 437 continuous days aboard the “Mir” space station.
Nevertheless, the unexpected nature of their extended stay away from their families – the stranded astronauts had to get extra clothes and personal hygiene items because they didn’t bring enough belongings with them – sparked the public’s interest and sympathy.
