Sunita Williams is finally set to return home. The Massachusetts-born astronaut has been stranded in space due to technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner, which was originally scheduled to bring her and her fellow astronaut back from the International Space Station (ISS) in June last year. However, multiple helium leaks and degraded thrust in five maneuvering jets have repeatedly delayed the mission. As a result, NASA now expects their return to take place in March or April—far later than originally planned.
The delay in bringing the two NASA astronauts back has even turned into a political issue, with former U.S. President Donald Trump calling on Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, to “go get them.” While Musk did respond, the pair will be staying at the ISS until they can fly home aboard the Crew-10 mission, which is scheduled to launch on Wednesday.
In the meantime, Williams and Wilmore have been busy with maintenance tasks on the ISS. The two astronauts have conducted seven spacewalks and performed scientific experiments that have pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in microgravity. In fact, Williams just recently finished the longest spacewalk of her career—a six-hour effort to clean and inspect the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), a particle physics experiment on the ISS that has been working since 2022.
Despite the delay, the two astronauts are happy with their mission. They are working on various essential science projects, including studies of the effects of long-term spaceflight on the human body and supporting the work of other astronauts at the ISS.
The return home will be harrowing, as the Dragon spacecraft has to use its thrusters to fly through the upper atmosphere and burn up its fuel. But SpaceX is confident its technology will allow the spacecraft to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and land safely.
While the Dragon spacecraft prepares to undock from the ISS, the astronauts participate in a virtual conference with their families and friends. That event will not be live-streamed, but Nasa said it would share video highlights on its Twitter feed after the mission.
The Dragon will then be guided towards an ocean splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. The landing is expected to take place around 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday, and NASA and SpaceX will share the link to watch it online.
The next SpaceX mission to the ISS is scheduled for late March, and NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will return on the company’s Crew Dragon. The exact vehicle is expected to carry Williams and Wilmore, along with Crew 10’s NASA astronaut Anne McClain and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmonaut Aleksandr Kornienko. The flight is scheduled to launch on March 12, with a landing targeted for March 19. However, the trip home could be accelerated by switching those station fliers onto a different spacecraft if the original Starliner suffers further delays.
