After a nine - calendar month stay that was only suppose to last eight days , NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have finally left the International Space Station ( ISS ) and are on their way home .
Seated inside a SpaceX Crew Dragon space vehicle alongside fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian spaceman Aleksandr Gorbunov , Williams and Wilmore undocked from the orbital outpost at 1:05 a.m. ET on Tuesday , March 18 .
The crew areexpected to splash downoff the sea-coast of Florida at around 5:57 p.m. ET later on Tuesday .
Williams and Wilmore arrived at the ISS in June 2024 on the first crewed flight of Boeing ’s Starliner spacecraft . But technical problems with the vehicle set up base hit concern , prompting engineers to bring home the capsule without its two cosmonaut . The decision left Williams and Wilmore , both experient spaceman , with no choice but to await for NASA to make alternate arrangements for a ride home .
In an effort to avoid disrupting its usual work party rotation schedule that works on a six - month cycle , NASA held back two of the four astronauts on the Crew-9 trajectory that headed to the ISS in September last year . The decision imply the Crew Dragon ’s two empty butt could be afford to Williams and Wilmore on the vehicle ’s return flight today .
Ahead of her departure , Williams was ask what she ’d miss most about being in range . “ Everything , ” she said , before adding : “ This has been [ our ] third flight of steps to the ISS . We helped put it together , we ’ve been up here watching it change . Just populate here gives us a unique perspective — not just outside the window , obviously — but on how to lick problem . I do n’t require to lose that spark of intake and linear perspective when I leave so I am move to have to bottle it up , somehow . ”
Asked what she find most thought-provoking about ending up on a delegacy that live on far longer than destine , Williams respond : “ It ’s been a rollercoaster for [ family and supporters ] , probably more than it has been for us .
“ We ’re here , we have a mission . We do what we have to do every daytime . The hardest thing has been not knowing when we ’d hail back . All of that uncertainty has been the most hard part . ”
Whiel some media reports suggested the span had been “ strand ” in blank and were awaiting “ rescue , ” recently appoint NASA decision maker Janet Petro and other NASA officials have keep that the extended mission was managed in line with contingence preparation for human spacefaring , adding that both astronauts were well inclined for a longsighted - duration hitch , and spent their time aboard the ISS contributing to scientific research .
