Washington, DC:
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, whose short mission to the International Space Station (ISS) ast year has turned into a 10-month marathon, are finally gearing up for a return to Earth. The American space agency has cleared to launch on SpaceX’s Crew10 this week, which will bring the duo back as early as March 16, NASA officials have said.
Sunita (Suni) Williams and Barry Wilmore initially embarked on a 10-day mission aboard the Boeing Starliner on June 5, 2024, but the spacecraft experienced thruster malfunctions during its approach and docking maneuvers. This resulted in an extensive investigation by NASA and Boeing back on the ground, with the space agency finally declaring the Starliner too risky to carry astronauts back home.
The spacecraft returned to Earth without its crew in September, leaving the two astronauts without a ride home.
Later, NASA decided to bring both its astronauts back to Earth with the help of billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Williams and Wilmore were added to the downward leg of SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission, which was launched with only two members — NASA’s astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov — in September, making it possible to accommodate the duo stranded in space.
Crew-9’s return was initially scheduled for February after it completed its six-month stay at ISS, but it was postponed due to logistical adjustments. Finally, NASA cleared the launch of Crew 10 on Friday.
Crew-10, SpaceX, and @NASA completed a full rehearsal of launch day activities pic.twitter.com/jaHNri4LDE
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 10, 2025
The mission will be launched on March 12 from Kennedy Space Center, carrying astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Takuya Onishi, and Kirill Peskov. Due to construction delays, the crew is flying on the Endurance capsule instead of the originally planned new Crew Dragon spacecraft.
According to NASA, if the launch proceeds as planned, Crew 9 will undock on March 16 following a two-day handover period on March 14 and 15.
However, in case there are any delays in Crew10’s mission, Crew 9’s return will also be pushed back. Backup launch dates for Crew 10 are available on March 13 at 7:35 pm and March 14 at 7:04 pm, which would shift Crew 9’s return to March 17 or 18 accordingly.