CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Relief has arrived for NASA’s two astronauts who have been stuck on the International Space Station for nine months. Their replacements launched late Friday, signaling the beginning of their journey home.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are waiting for SpaceX to deliver the new team aboard the space station, an event expected late Saturday night. Before Wilmore and Williams can depart, there is a need for both teams to overlap so they can brief their replacements on station operations. If everything goes as planned, they are set to undock next week, followed by a splashdown off the Florida coast, contingent on weather conditions.
The departing team will be accompanied by astronauts who arrived last September on a rescue mission with SpaceX. They will vacate two seats reserved for Wilmore and Williams’ return journey.
The latest mission launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center includes a fresh crew: NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, both military pilots, alongside Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov, former airline pilots. They will spend six months aboard the station, which marks the typical duration for such missions, following their successful release of Wilmore and Williams.
“Spaceflight is tough, but humans are tougher,” McClain remarked shortly after launch.
Wilmore and Williams, serving as test pilots for Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, had anticipated a brief week-long mission upon their June 5 departure. However, mishaps including helium leaks and thruster troubles extended their stay as NASA and Boeing investigated the issues.
Deemed unsafe for return, NASA decided to return Starliner empty last September, reassigning the duo to a SpaceX flight scheduled to return in February. This return faced additional postponements due to necessary repairs on SpaceX’s new capsule, leading them to opt for a used one, hastening the astronauts’ return to mid-March.
Their extended mission gained global attention and became a political focal point when President Donald Trump and SpaceX’s Elon Musk pledged to expedite their return, attributing previous delays to the former administration.
Retired Navy captains, Wilmore and Williams, veterans of the space station, have consistently endorsed NASA’s decisions throughout their mission. They continued to maintain operations, addressing station maintenance like fixing toilets, caring for plants, and conducting experiments. Williams, who went on a spacewalk, broke the record for the most spacewalking hours by a woman.
A hydraulics issue necessitated postponing the initial launch attempt on Wednesday. A problem with one of the clamp arms on the Falcon rocket’s support structure emerged but was rectified by flushing out the hydraulics system.
The astronauts’ extended stay has taken a toll, particularly on their families. Wilmore looks forward to reuniting with his wife and daughters and is eager to return to pastoral duties, while Williams anticipates walking her Labrador retrievers alongside her husband and mother.
“We appreciate all the love and support from everybody,” Williams shared earlier this week, noting the added attention their mission has attracted. “The good part is more and more people have been interested in what we’re doing with space exploration.”
