Space Station Saga: stranded astronauts set to land Tuesday
ISS astronauts set to touch down Tuesday - Returning Space Station Crew Expected on Tuesday
What was supposed to be a short visit to the cosmos has turned into an extended stay for US astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore. After nine long months, they might finally touch down on Earth on Tuesday. NASA and SpaceX experts have agreed Tuesday night as the best time for their journey back home, according to both organizations.
Initially, they were due to return on Wednesday. However, it's crucial to note that this plan may still change for various reasons. The crew, known as "Crew 9," is scheduled to leave the ISS at 6:05 AM German time on Tuesday, with their capsule expected to splash down in the sea off the coast of Florida around 11:00 PM.
This fresh crew, named "Crew 10," consists of US astronauts Anne McClain and Nicole Mann, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. They boarded the SpaceX spacecraft "Crew Dragon" during the weekend and successfully docked with the ISS early Sunday morning. Live footage from NASA depicted the ISS crew and newcomers embracing warmly.
"Crew 10" is expected to remain in space until the fall. They will replace "Crew 9" after a handover period on the International Space Station, which includes Williams, Wilmore, their US colleague Nick Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. Hague and Gorbunov joined the ISS in late September, while Williams and Wilmore have been there since early June. Also, their colleagues, US astronaut Don Pettit and Russian cosmonauts Alexei Ovchinin and Ivan Wagner, who arrived in September, intend to remain as planned.
The reason for the extended stay of Williams and Wilmore comes from technical problems that emerged with their Boeing Starliner spacecraft, leading NASA to bring the spacecraft back to Earth empty in September for safety reasons. The Starliner was developed by US company Boeing under contract with NASA as an alternative to SpaceX's "Crew Dragon" for transporting astronauts to the ISS. However, the project has faced numerous setbacks and years of delays, with continually postponed test flights due to technical issues.
This first crewed mission of Starliner encountered helium leaks and thruster failures during its rendezvous with the ISS, leading to multiple mission extensions and concerns about the spacecraft's ability to safely return astronauts. Despite these challenges, Starliner successfully landed uncrewed at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico on September 7, 2024, which was a significant step in resolving the technical issues and preparing for future crewed missions.
As for Williams and Wilmore, they returned to Earth on March 18, 2025, aboard a SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon spacecraft after nearly nine months on the ISS. This marked a successful conclusion to their extended mission. Meanwhile, Boeing and NASA are likely to address the identified vulnerabilities and refine the Starliner spacecraft's systems to ensure safer and more reliable operations in future missions.
I'm not going to be a big fan of the idea of a space station crewed by SpaceX's Crew Dragon if the spacecraft faces numerous setbacks, like both the Boeing Starliner and Starliner's first crewed mission did, which led to extended stays for astronauts on board. Despite the success of Elon Musk's SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon spacecraft in returning Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore to Earth on Tuesday, one can only wonder about the potential challenges the upcoming "Crew 10" (Anne McClain, Nicole Mann, Takuya Onishi, and Kirill Peskov) might face when they take over on the International Space Station later this year.
