Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore to return home after 286 days as Dragon departs International Space Station
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will return to Earth on March 18 evening (March 19 India time) after spending more than nine months at the ISS. Watch live. World Trending
Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov have undocked from the International Space Station. NASA live-streamed the event from the ISS, showing the SpaceX Dragon capsule leaving space for Earth. The splashdown is scheduled to happen at 3:30 am IST on March 19 (March 18 ET).
Earlier, NASA posted that Crew-9 had packed up and closed the hatches in preparation for their much-awaited return to Earth. Crew-9 is set to come back home on March 18 after Crew-10 reached the ISS earlier. Cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov is also part of Crew-9 coming back in a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
NASA live stream on American astronauts' return
NASA live-streamed the undocking and will also live-stream the splashdown.
NASA posted, "NASA_Astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are packing up and closing the hatches as #Crew9 prepares to depart from the Space_Station."
"Crew-9 is scheduled to return to Earth on Tuesday, March 18."
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The International Space Station X handle posted that the hatch was closed at 11:05 pm ET and the undocking was scheduled to begin at 1:05 am on Tuesday.
"The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft's hatch was closed at 11:05pm ET today. Next, the Commercial_Crewquartet will undock from the station at 1:05 am on Tuesday live on NASA+."
Meanwhile, astronaut Nick Hague, who is accompanying Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, shared a heartfelt note before departing.
"It’s been a privilege to call the Space_Station home, to play my part in its 25-year legacy of doing research for humanity, and to work with colleagues, now friends, from around the globe. My spaceflight career, like most, is full of the unexpected."
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore's ordeal to end
The American astronauts have been on the International Space Station since June 2024. Their ride to the ISS, Boeing Starliner that was supposed to bring them back also, malfunctioned and later returned to Earth empty.
Since then, the two astronauts have been waiting for a ride back to Earth.
