Sunita Williams Homecoming is Finally Confirmed, Said NASA

After spending almost 9 months on the International Space Station, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will be returning home on March 18, Tuesday, said NASA. Both astronauts are to be transported home with another American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft, which arrived at the ISS early Sunday.

The stranded astronauts have been on the ISS since June after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft suffered propulsion issues and was deemed unfit to fly back to Earth.

NASA, in its press release dated March 16, stated, “NASA and SpaceX met on Sunday to assess weather and splashdown conditions off Florida’s coast for the return of the agency’s Crew-9 mission from the International Space Station."

The release added, "Mission managers are targeting an earlier Crew-9 return opportunity based on favorable conditions forecasted for the evening of Tuesday, March 18.” After a two-day handover period between Crew-10 and Crew-9, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore and other crew members, including NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, will depart for Earth.

Furthermore, NASA will stream the entire journey from hatch closure to splashdown on its official website, https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew.