NASA Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore to Finally Return from Space in March
The United States astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore are set to return to earth around mid March, 2025 marking the end of an extended mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Originally scheduled to launch June 5th 2024, their mission was intended to last around eight days. Unexpected technical issues with their spacecraft required their prolonged stay.
Trump has written a post on the Truth social regarding the 2 astronauts who got stuck in space and asking Elon to go and recover them on January 29th 2025.
How They Got Stuck in Space?
The Starliner capsule on its first crewed flight ferried astronauts Williams and Wilmore to the ISS. Just after docking, the craft began suffering propulsion system anomalies such as thruster failures and helium leaks that rendered it unsafe for the return flight. NASA therefore declared that the Starliner was unfit for human return, choosing to send the capsule back to Earth without a human crew in September 2024. This choice prolonged the astronaut’s mission awaiting alternative means of return.
NASA has coordinated with SpaceX to speed up the launch of the pre-flown Dragon capsule to help them return. The Crew 10 mission is now scheduled to launch on March 12th 2025. After the new crew arrives, Williams and Wilmore will leave the ISS with Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov and ride the Dragon spacecraft home to Earth.
Both astronauts remained healthy throughout the extended mission continuing their science and maintenance work onboard the ISS.
