A pair of US astronauts who have been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) for over nine months are scheduled to return to Earth on Tuesday evening, NASA has announced.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will travel back alongside fellow American astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which docked at the ISS early Sunday.
The two astronauts have remained on the ISS since June after their initial spacecraft, Boeing’s Starliner, experienced propulsion issues and was deemed unsafe for their return journey.
In a statement on Sunday evening, NASA confirmed that their splashdown off the Florida coast has been moved up to approximately 5:57 p.m. on Tuesday (2157 GMT), instead of the initially planned Wednesday return.
“The updated return schedule allows crew members to complete handover duties while ensuring flexibility ahead of unfavorable weather expected later in the week,” NASA stated.
The return journey will be broadcast live, beginning Monday evening with hatch closure preparations.
For Wilmore and Williams, this marks the end of an unexpectedly extended mission, which was originally planned as a short roundtrip but instead stretched to nine months. Their stay far exceeded the usual six-month astronaut rotation aboard the ISS.
While their time in space was significantly prolonged, it still falls short of records set by NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, who spent 371 consecutive days in orbit in 2023, and Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who holds the world record of 437 days aboard the Mir space station.
Despite not breaking records, their prolonged and unplanned stay has drawn significant attention, with NASA providing additional clothing and personal items to accommodate their extended mission.
