United States: Two NASA astronauts who have been “stranded” aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for more than nine months due to technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner capsule are finally on their way back to Earth. Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore, who originally scheduled a short stay of just over a week, are now returning aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule alongside two other astronauts.
The Dragon capsule, carrying Williams, Wilmore, NASA’s Nicholas Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, undocked from the ISS at 1:05 a.m. ET (5:05 a.m. GMT) and is expected to splash down off the coast of Florida at approximately 6:00 p.m. ET after a 17-hour descent. Mission managers will define the precise landing site based on real-time weather conditions.
Williams and Wilmore originally arrived at the ISS on June 6, 2024, as part of Starliner’s first crewed test flight, which was meant to last only ten days. However, a series of technical malfunctions, including helium leaks and thruster issues, forced NASA and Boeing to send the capsule back to Earth without a crew in September. The astronauts’ mission was extended, and they were incorporated into the station’s crew, taking the place of other astronauts whose missions were reassigned.
NASA’s Anne McClain bid farewell to the departing crew as their capsule pulled away from the ISS, stating that, “We’ll miss you, but have a great journey home.”
The extended stay of Williams and Wilmore has fueled political and corporate debates, with SpaceX founder Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump accusing the Biden administration of abandoning the astronauts. Musk claimed—without evidence—that he had proposed to bring them home earlier but was blocked by the White House. However, NASA officials and space experts have claimed that the return timeline was always in line with standard operational procedures.
LIVE: #Crew9 and their @SpaceX Dragon spacecraft are departing the @Space_Station and starting their journey back to Earth. Undocking is scheduled for 1:05am ET (0505 UTC). https://t.co/OUp4n98WeE
— NASA (@NASA) March 18, 2025
Williams and Wilmore were caught in the middle of the controversy. Wilmore initially appeared to support Musk’s claim, calling it “absolutely factual.”
Musk’s public feud with Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen, who refuted claims of abandonment and emphasised the planned schedule, further escalated tensions. Musk’s online comments blasting Mogensen and former astronaut-turned-Senator Mark Kelly deepened the divide within the space community.
The Boeing Starliner capsule was developed under NASA’s commercial crew programme but has faced multiple setbacks. Engineers at White Sands, New Mexico, continue to investigate the thruster failures and helium leaks that impacted its crewed mission. Aviation Week has reported that Starliner is unlikely to fly again before 2025, though Boeing remains committed to settling the issues and securing flight readiness certification.
Meanwhile, NASA continues to rely on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule for routine crewed missions to and from the ISS. The successful return of Crew-9 marks another milestone in the agency’s partnership with SpaceX as it navigates the challenges of commercial spaceflight.
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