Two US astronauts, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have spent over nine months at the International Space Station (ISS), are finally set to return to Earth on Tuesday evening. The two astronauts, along with one other US astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut, will be returned on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. The spacecraft arrived at the ISS in the early hours of Sunday morning to make the return journey.
Wilmore and Williams had spent time on the ISS since June 2024, following a problem on their initial crewed flight on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. The Starliner faced propulsion issues during its maiden voyage and was not certified to transport the astronauts back home. Their stay on the space station, which was intended to last a few days at most, ended up being an unplanned nine-month odyssey.
NASA has delayed the return date, moving the ocean splashdown to approximately 5:57 p.m. Tuesday (21:57 GMT), due to favorable weather in the coming days. The astronauts were initially scheduled to return on Wednesday, but the change will enable the crew to complete key handover activities without having to withstand poorer weather later in the week.
In addition to Williams and Wilmore, NASA’s Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will return on the SpaceX Crew Dragon as well. The entire return journey will be live-streamed beginning on Monday night when hatch closeout preparation begins.
The extended stay on the ISS has also attracted significant interest, as it was outside the usual six-month rotation of astronauts on the station. While the stay of Williams and Wilmore was longer, it is a long way from the U.S. record of 371 days by astronaut Frank Rubio in 2023 or the world record of 437 days by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on the Mir space station.
Despite the challenges, the astronauts’ return will be the culmination of an unprecedented journey. Their long absence from their families, which requires additional clothes and personal hygiene items, has generated sympathy and interest from the public.
