E-Paper
NASA's mission to bring back Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore launches for ISS
SpaceX mission launches from Florida to bring back astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore stranded on ISS.
A SpaceX mission took off on Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with two passengers on board and two empty seats to bring back astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore. The astronauts have been stranded on the International Space Station for months.
On board are NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov.
When will Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore return to Earth?
NASA rotates crews on the space station every six months, so the newly launched flight won't return until late February.
By then, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will have spent over eight months in space, although they expected just a week away when they signed up for Boeing’s first astronaut flight in June.
NASA decided Boeing’s Starliner, which took them to ISS, was too risky for return due to thruster issues and helium leaks.
Consequently, two astronauts were cut from the SpaceX launch to accommodate Wilmore and Williams on the return trip.
Crew-9 mission takes off
SpaceX, the private company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, has been flying regular missions every six months to allow the rotation of ISS crews.
The launch of Crew-9 was postponed from mid-August to late September to give NASA experts more time to assess the Starliner's reliability. It faced additional delays due to Hurricane Helene, which struck Florida on Thursday.
SpaceX's Dragon vessel is scheduled to dock with the ISS on Sunday around 21:30 GMT (3:00am IST).
After a handover period, Crew-8's four members will return to Earth on another SpaceX craft.
Hague and Gorbunov will spend about five months on the ISS, while Wilmore and Williams will be there for eight months. Crew-9 is set to conduct approximately 200 scientific experiments.
