NASA Astronauts Return to Earth Aboard SpaceX Capsule

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore left the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday aboard a SpaceX spacecraft, concluding a mission that extended far beyond its original schedule due to technical issues with their initial ride home.

Williams and Wilmore, along with astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, detached from the ISS in a SpaceX Dragon capsule, as confirmed by NASA’s official channels. Their reentry and splashdown near the Florida coastline are set for 5:57 p.m. ET.

Originally assigned an eight-day mission, Williams and Wilmore remained in orbit for over nine months. Their return was postponed after Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which transported them to the ISS, encountered system malfunctions that deemed it unfit for reentry.

NASA had slated their return for March as part of SpaceX’s Crew 9 rotation. However, technical setbacks delayed the mission's liftoff last week, pushing the launch to the weekend.

The Biden administration had closely monitored efforts to expedite the return of Williams and Wilmore. SpaceX, in coordination with NASA, executed the retrieval mission following multiple postponements.