Sunita Williams set to return to Earth tomorrow

New York: With the pair of US astronauts stranded for more than nine months on the International Space Station (ISS), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has confirmed that the duo will return to Earth on Tuesday evening.

Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams are to be transported home with another American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft, which arrived at the ISS early Sunday.

NASA said in a statement on Sunday evening that it had moved forward the astronauts’ anticipated ocean splashdown off the Florida coast to nearly 5:57 p.m. on Tuesday (21:57 GMT and 3:30 a.m., March 19, IST). It was initially slated for no sooner than Wednesday.

The duo has been on the ISS since June last year after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing on its maiden crewed voyage suffered propulsion issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth.

“The updated return target continues to allow the space station crew members time to complete handover duties while providing operational flexibility ahead of less favourable weather conditions expected for later in the week,” the space agency said.

NASA said in a statement that it will provide live coverage of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 return to Earth from the ISS, beginning with Dragon spacecraft hatch closure preparations at 10:45 p.m. EDT Monday, March 17 (around 8:30 a.m. on March 18 in India).

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will also return on the Dragon capsule. The slated journey will mark the end of an ordeal for Wilmore and Williams that has seen them stuck for nine months after what was meant to have been a days-long roundtrip.

While the extended stay of Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams aboard the ISS was much longer than the typical six-month rotation for astronauts, it falls short of the US space record of 371 days set by NASA astronaut Frank Rubio in 2023, or the world record of 437 days held by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov aboard the Mir space station.

The unexpected length of their time away from their families had drawn massive attention, speculation and concerns. Due to the unforeseen extension, both the astronauts had to receive extra clothing and personal care supplies, as they hadn’t packed enough for such an extended mission.

–IANS