Astronaut duo Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are back on Earth following a nearly nine-month stint in space.
Spacebound Odyssey: The Epic Journey of NASA's Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore
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NASA's Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, once famous for their extended, politically charged mission, are finally making their way back home.
These brave astronauts will soon embark on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, accompanied by NASA's Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov from Russia's Roscosmos space agency. The team plans to depart the International Space Station around 1:05 a.m. ET on Monday, with an expected splashdown return on Tuesday afternoon[4].
Williams, Wilmore, Hague, and Gorbunov are part of the Crew-9 mission, a collaborative endeavor between NASA and SpaceX for routine staff rotations on the space station[5]. The Crew-9 capsule launched in September with Hague and Gorbunov on board, while Williams and Wilmore had originally been scheduled to join but were delayed due to malfunctions with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft[6].
As they prepare for their homecoming, both Williams and Wilmore face the limelight due to the unforeseen nature of their extended space stay and the series of events that kept them from returning aboard the Boeing Starliner vehicle[6]. Despite not setting a new record for the length of time in space, their upcoming mission is expected to span approximately 286 days, well below the world record of 437 days in orbit held by the late Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov[6].
The Crew-9 team will spend early Monday and Tuesday in the approximately 13-foot-wide (4-meter-wide), gumdrop-shaped SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft orbiting around 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth. After gradually descending, the capsule will dive towards Earth's atmosphere, following which, around 5 p.m. ET, it is scheduled to ignite its engines for the final, most dangerous phase of the journey - reentry[7].
During reentry, the fiery physics of speeding towards the planet at over 22 times the speed of sound can heat the capsule's exterior to temperatures surpassing 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,926 degrees Celsius)[7]. This phase of the journey often triggers communication blackouts, making it the most perilous part of any spacecraft's journey home.
Upon deploying two sets of parachutes for additional slowing, the capsule will decelerate from orbital speeds of over 17,000 miles per hour (27,359 kilometers per hour) to less than 20 miles per hour (32 kilometers per hour) as it lands in the ocean[7]. NASA and SpaceX hope for a successful splashdown off Florida's coast as early as 5:57 p.m. ET on Tuesday, although the time and location remain subject to changes based on weather and the crew's progress[7].
Upon exiting the spacecraft, Williams and Wilmore will breathe Earth's air for the first time in nine months, returning to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston after medical evaluations[8].
The Crew-9 team is returning home due to the successful launch of the Crew-10 mission in April. The four Crew-10 astronauts docked with the space station just after midnight ET on Sunday[9]. NASA initially decided that Crew-10 needed to be in place before the Starliner astronauts could leave orbit, allowing the agency to maintain the US-controlled portion of the space station fully staffed without having to organize a separate, multimillion-dollar return mission for Williams and Wilmore[9].
A political storm brews:
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and former U.S. President Donald Trump have criticized NASA for leaving Williams and Wilmore stranded, claiming they were abandoned by the Biden administration[10]. In posts on Twitter, Musk suggested that SpaceX could have brought Williams and Wilmore home for months but the offer was denied for "political reasons." However, a senior NASA official stated that SpaceX never communicated such an offer to agency leaders[10]. If Musk made the offer to someone outside NASA leadership, the official noted, it would likely have been refused due to the costs[10].
![Space traveler Frank Rubio, an astronaut from NASA, is assisted out of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft minutes after he and Russian space travelers Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, descended near the town of Zhezkazgan in Kazakhstan on September 27, 2023. This trio had spent 371 days up in space as part of Expeditions 68-69 on the International Space Station. Notably, Rubio's mission was the longest solo spaceflight ever logged by an American astronaut. [Credited to Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images]](https://asb-media.info/en/img/2025/03/18/797624/jpeg/4-3/1200/75/zhezkazgan-kazakhstan-september-27-in-this-handout-provided-by-nasa-expedition-69-nasa-astronaut-frank-rubio-is-helped-out-of-the-soyuz-ms-23-spacecraft-just-minutes-after-he-and-roscosmos-cosmonauts-sergey-prokopyev-and-dmitri-petelin-landed-in-a-remote-area-near-the-town-of-zhezkazgan-kazakhstan-on-september-27-2023-the-trio-are-returning-to-earth-after-logging-371-days-in-space-as-members-of-expeditions-68-69-aboard-the-international-space-station-for-rubio-his-mission-is-the-longest-single-spaceflight-by-a-u-s-astronaut-in-history-photo-by-bill-ingalls-nasa-via-getty-images.webp "Astronaut Frank Rubio, accompanied by Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, returns to Earth after 371 days in space, a remarkable duration that made it the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut in history. They landed in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on September 27, 2023, following their assignment on Expeditions 68-69 aboard the International Space Station. A NASA handout photograph by Bill Ingalls captures the moments of their descent from the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft.")
Stories of extended space stays:
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio set a new record for the longest single spaceflight by an American astronaut when he logged 371 days in space aboard the ISS from September 2022 to September 2023[11]. His mission extension came about due to a coolant leak in the Russian Soyuz capsule that was supposed to bring him back to Earth[11].
"We've never seen this level of scrutiny with any other long-duration missions," ISS program deputy manager Dina Contella said, attempting to put Williams and Wilmore's extended stay in perspective[12].
Sources:
[1] Space.com: Williams and Wilmore to Leave ISS for Earth After More Than Eight Months in Space[2] CNN: Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore finally make their way home after prolonged space mission[3] NASA: Boeing Starliner Spacecraft Uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2)[4] Space.com: NASA's Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to Return from International Space Station on April 4https://www.space.com/suniwilmore-eturn-international-space-station.html[5] NASA: Crew-9 mission overviewhttps://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/crew-9-mission/index.html[6] CNN: Suni Williams' and Butch Wilmore's space stay was 'politically fraught'https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/04/us/suniwilmore-return-space-intl-hnk/index.html[7] Space.com: Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore's Expected Return to Earth from ISS[8] NASA: What's it like coming back from space?https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expedition12/coming_back_home.html[9] NASA: NASA astronauts return from the space stationhttps://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-astronauts-return-from-the-space-station[10] CNBC: SpaceX's Elon Musk says his company could have brought astronauts from the ISS home months ago, but "political reasons" stood in the wayhttps://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/03/spacex-elon-musk-political-reasons-blocked-space-station-crew-return.html[11] NASA: NASA astronaut Frank Rubio breaks American spaceflight record with nearly a year in spacehttps://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-astronaut-frank-rubio-breaks-american-spaceflight-record-with-nearly-a-year-in-space[12] Space.com: Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore's Expected Return to Earth from ISS
- The crew of NASA's Crew-9 mission, including Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, are likely to experience the heaviness of reentry as they return to Earth, with temperatures on the capsule's exterior reaching over 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit during this phase.
- While the Crew-9 team will likely spend approximately 286 days in space, NASA astronaut Valeri Polyakov still holds the world record for the longest time in orbit, having spent 437 days in space.
- Despite the political storm brewing over whether SpaceX could have returned the astronauts earlier, NASA and SpaceX are scheduled to complete the Crew-9 mission with a splashdown return on Tuesday, with the time and location remaining subject to changes based on weather and the crew's progress.
