SpaceX Crew-8 Capsule Returns: Stranded NASA Astronauts Await Homecoming
The SpaceX Crew-8 capsule returned safely to Earth on October 25, 2024. Stranded NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, stuck on the ISS since June, are set to return in February 2025.
NASA decided they wouldn't come back on that spacecraft, which flew home without a crew on September 6.
A SpaceX Dragon capsule with the Crew-8 mission returned safely to Earth on October 25, 2024, after spending 235 days in space.
It landed in the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, Florida.
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been on the International Space Station (ISS) since June, couldn’t return with Crew-8.
They are stuck there because their Boeing Starliner spacecraft had problems.
NASA decided they wouldn't come back on that spacecraft, which flew home without a crew on September 6.
To bring Williams and Wilmore home, NASA included them in the upcoming SpaceX Crew-9 mission, which launched on September 28.
However, they couldn’t return earlier because Crew-8 was already full with other astronauts.
Williams and Wilmore are now busy with regular duties on the ISS and are both trained for their tasks.
Williams even became the commander of the ISS again.
They are expected to return to Earth in February 2025.
