Starliner astronauts slated to begin return after nine months in space
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NASA Astronauts Suni Williams (l) and Butch Wilmore pose for family and friends after walking out from the Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center in June of 2024. The two ended up staying aboard the International Space Station for nine months. (Photo credit: Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo)
March 12 (UPI) -- NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are expected to return home after spending nine months in orbit.
Four astronauts are slated to launch to the International Space Station Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a mission dubbed Crew-10, which is to bring the pair home.
Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams have been in space since June 2024 after taking part in the first crewed test flight of Boeing's Starliner.
Their mission aboard the ISS was only supposed to take a week, but the Boeing capsule intended to take them home experienced malfunctions and a fuel leak, so NASA and Boeing chose to leave them in space as their craft was returned unmanned.
The two astronauts ended up merging with the team already aboard the ISS, helping them with their mission.
NASA Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams shared their experience on the ISS with AccuWeather’s Bernie Rayno as they await their hopeful return home later this month.
The exact date of their return remains unannounced, as any outgoing astronauts aboard the ISS typically spend days training and briefing incoming teams on any ongoing work and experiments.
Astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are also to come home with Williams and Wilmore. NASA said in an online statement Thursday that the four completed more than 900 hours of research that included over 150 "unique scientific experiments and technology demonstrations during their stay aboard the orbiting laboratory."
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