Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore to return to Earth on March 18: NASA

NASA video exhibits Suni Williams and different astronauts greeting one another after the SpaceX capsule docked with the Worldwide House Station, on March 16, 2025.
| Picture Credit score: PTI

A pair of U.S. astronauts caught for greater than 9 months on the Worldwide House Station (ISS) can be returned to Earth on Tuesday (March 18, 2025) night, NASA mentioned.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are to be transported residence with one other American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft, which arrived on the ISS early on Sunday.

SpaceX crew Dragon splashdown LIVE

The stranded duo have been on the ISS since June after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they had been testing on its maiden crewed voyage suffered propulsion points and was deemed unfit to fly them again to Earth.

NASA mentioned in an announcement on Sunday night that it had moved ahead the astronauts’ anticipated ocean splashdown off the Florida coast to roughly 5.57 p.m. Tuesday (2157 GMT). It was initially slated for no earlier than Wednesday.

“The up to date return goal continues to permit the house station crew members time to finish handover duties whereas offering operational flexibility forward of much less favorable climate situations anticipated for later within the week,” the house company mentioned.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov may even return on the Dragon capsule, with the journey to be broadcast dwell from Monday night when hatch closure preparations start.

Additionally learn | Sunita Williams steps out on spacewalk after seven months in orbit

For Mr. Wilmore and Ms. Williams, it’ll mark the tip of an ordeal that has seen them caught for 9 months after what was meant to have been a days-long roundtrip.

Their extended keep was considerably longer than the usual ISS rotation for astronauts of roughly six months.

However it’s a lot shorter than the U.S. house report of 371 days set by NASA astronaut Frank Rubio aboard the ISS in 2023, or the world report held by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent 437 steady days aboard the Mir house station.

Nonetheless, the surprising nature of their extended steer clear of their households – they needed to obtain extra clothes and private care objects as a result of they hadn’t packed sufficient – has garnered curiosity and sympathy.