Stuck NASA astronauts returning to Earth on SpaceX capsule: What to know | Space News

Two NASA astronauts are headed to Earth after spending 9 months stranded in house.

Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore departed the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) early on Tuesday morning and are anticipated to splash down off the coast of Florida after a journey of 17 hours. Boeing’s Starliner, their unique return spacecraft, was deemed unsafe for the journey dwelling, forcing the astronauts to remain in house for much longer than deliberate.

Right here’s all it is advisable to find out about their prolonged keep and long-awaited return:

Who’re the 2 astronauts who had been caught in house?

The 2 astronauts stranded on board the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) are 59-year-old Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 62, each veteran NASA-trained house travellers.

Williams, the present commander of the ISS and a retired US Navy officer, joined NASA in 1998. Over her profession, she has spent 322 days in house and accomplished 9 spacewalks. She beforehand held the document for probably the most spacewalks by a feminine astronaut, till 2017 when the title went to Peggy Whitson, who accomplished 10.

Wilmore first flew to house in 2009 on board the Area Shuttle Atlantis. Earlier than the Boeing Starliner mission, he had logged 178 days in house. He has served as a flight engineer and commander on earlier ISS missions, conducting analysis on plant progress in house, the consequences of microgravity on the human physique and environmental modifications on Earth.

Within the Boeing mission, Wilmore served because the commander and Williams was the pilot.

When and the way are they coming again to Earth?

The SpaceX Crew Dragon carrying Wilmore and Williams undocked from the ISS at 1.05am ET (05:05 GMT) on Tuesday. It’s anticipated to splash into the Atlantic Ocean simply earlier than 6pm ET (22:00 GMT).

Late on Monday evening, the method for Williams and Wilmore to return began. Hatch closure preparations started at 10:45pm ET (02:45 GMT).

NASA is livestreaming the departure and return journey of the astronauts.

They’re returning on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which had been docked on the station since September 2024. This capsule originally brought NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian astronaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the ISS, with two empty seats left for Wilmore and Williams’ return.

The 4 couldn’t return on the identical capsule till a further crew carrying 4 different astronauts arrived to interchange them.

That has now occurred. Crew-10, which docked on the ISS on Sunday at 12:04am ET (04:04 GMT), consists of NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian astronaut Kirill Peskov. They launched from Kennedy Area Heart in Florida, US, on Friday.

Why did they get caught?

Williams and Wilmore bought caught after technical issues with the spacecraft meant to convey them dwelling.

They’d travelled to the ISS on board Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner as a part of its first crewed take a look at flight. The mission, beneath NASA’s Business Crew Program, aimed to develop non-public spacecraft for transporting astronauts to and from the station. By outsourcing low-Earth orbit missions, NASA has mentioned it goals to concentrate on deep house exploration, together with the Artemis missions to the moon and future human missions to Mars.

Throughout the 25-hour flight to the ISS, Starliner skilled helium leaks and a malfunctioning thruster, which helps steer and management reentry. When it arrived on June 6, 4 extra of the 28 thrusters failed, delaying docking with the station.

Though engineers restored 4 out of 5 failed thrusters, NASA deemed the spacecraft too dangerous for human journey and sent it back empty, leaving Williams and Wilmore stranded on the ISS.

In August 2024, NASA decided to bring them again on a SpaceX automobile. Crew Dragon-9, which launched on September 29, 2024, has been docked on the ISS since, however bringing them dwelling earlier would have left just one US astronaut on the house station, limiting analysis and emergency response.

Now, with their substitute members arriving on Crew-10, Williams and Wilmore are lastly headed dwelling.

How lengthy have the 2 astronauts been caught in house?

Williams and Wilmore have been in house since June 5, 2024, that means they may have spent greater than 9 months in orbit by the point they return.

After blasting off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in June, they had been initially scheduled to remain in house for simply eight days.

The usual ISS rotation for astronauts is roughly six months.

How did they survive in house for therefore lengthy?

Regardless of the sudden extension of their keep, Williams and Wilmore have remained in good well being and even performed a spacewalk collectively in January.

Life on board the ISS follows a structured routine with train, work and leisure. This consists of common routines on each the treadmill and resistance machine with a purpose to preserve their bone and muscle power.

All year long, a number of house companies and personal corporations additionally scheduled missions to resupply the house station with meals, water and oxygen, often replenished by cargo missions.

Over Christmas, the 2 even loved a festive dinner that included smoked oysters, crab, duck foie gras, cranberry sauce, Atlantic lobster and smoked salmon, in response to The Occasions newspaper in London.

Williams and Wilmore have additionally been in a position to preserve contact with their households via electronic mail and phone.

In an interview with Lester Holt on NBC Nightly Information in November, Williams mentioned she and Wilmore had been “feeling good, figuring out, consuming proper”.

“We’ve got a whole lot of enjoyable up right here too,” she added. “People who find themselves nervous about us, actually, don’t fear about us … We’re a cheerful crew up right here.”

Have astronauts been caught in house earlier than?

Williams and Wilmore will not be the primary astronauts to face an prolonged keep in house on account of unexpected circumstances. There have been earlier instances the place astronauts needed to stay in orbit longer than deliberate on account of technical issues or geopolitical occasions.

The longest single spaceflight by a US astronaut was Frank Rubio’s 371-day mission on board the ISS, from 2022 to 2023, prolonged on account of points with the Soyuz spacecraft that introduced him to orbit. He finally returned on a special Soyuz capsule.

In 1991, Soviet astronaut Sergei Krikalev was stranded on board the now-decommissioned Mir house station for 311 days because of the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Political turmoil and funding shortages delayed his return, forcing him to stay in orbit for much longer than deliberate. When he lastly landed in March 1992, he returned to not the Soviet Union, however to a newly unbiased Russia.