Sunita Williams may return to Earth on this date, shares NASA in latest update
NASA announced that astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams may return to Earth in mid-March, earlier than expected.
NASA has announced that astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who have been stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) since September, may return to Earth earlier than initially expected. In a statement this week, the space agency revealed that the pair’s return would be moved up to mid-March, rather than late March or April as previously scheduled.
This decision comes after NASA and SpaceX made the call to switch capsules for upcoming astronaut flights. The new plan aims to shorten Wilmore and Williams' extended stay in space, which reached the eight-month mark last week. NASA’s commercial crew programme manager, Steve Stich, acknowledged that human spaceflight often brings unexpected challenges, noting that this adjustment was necessary to bring the astronauts home sooner.
Wilmore and Sunita Williams were originally slated to return in June aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule after what was meant to be a weeklong flight demonstration. However, after the capsule encountered significant difficulties reaching the ISS, NASA made the decision to return it empty. As a result, the astronauts were reassigned to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule.
Why the delay?
Compounding the delays, SpaceX's launch of their replacement crew was also postponed due to additional preparations needed for the new capsule. This further prolonged Wilmore and Williams’ mission, pushing their return further into the year.
With further delays anticipated for the new capsule, NASA opted to send the next crew aboard an older, pre-used SpaceX capsule. This mission, initially intended for a private crew organised by Axiom Space, is now scheduled for liftoff on March 12. The private crew, which includes astronauts from Poland, Hungary, and India, will now launch later in the spring, after Wilmore and Williams’ return.
Typically, NASA prefers that the new crew arrive before the existing one returns, ensuring smooth handover operations. In this case, the crew heading up to the ISS will include two NASA astronauts, as well as astronauts from Japan and Russia.
NASA’s shift in plans comes just two weeks after the agency stated it was working "expeditiously" to bring Wilmore and Williams back to Earth as soon as possible. The announcement follows recent pledges from President Donald Trump and SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk, who both expressed their commitment to accelerating the astronauts' return.
With the revised schedule in place, Wilmore and Williams' long stay in space will soon come to an end, bringing a close to a mission filled with unprecedented hurdles.