NASA Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore Scheduled to Return on This Date

Washington, DC:

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, whose short mission to the International Space Station (ISS) last year turned into a 10-month marathon, are finally preparing to return to Earth. The American space agency has cleared their return aboard SpaceX’s Crew-10, which is set to launch this week and could bring the duo back as early as March 16, according to NASA officials.

Sunita (Suni) Williams and Barry Wilmore initially embarked on a 10-day mission aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 5, 2024. However, the spacecraft experienced thruster malfunctions during its approach and docking maneuvers. This led to an extensive investigation by NASA and Boeing on the ground, with the space agency eventually declaring the Starliner too risky to bring the astronauts back home.

The spacecraft returned to Earth without its crew in September, leaving the two astronauts stranded in space. Later, NASA decided to bring them back with the help of billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Williams and Wilmore were added to the downward leg of SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission, which was launched in September with only two members—NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov—making it possible to accommodate the stranded duo.

Crew-9’s return was initially scheduled for February after completing its six-month stay at the ISS, but it was postponed due to logistical adjustments. Finally, NASA cleared the launch of Crew-10 on Friday.

Crew-10, SpaceX, and @NASA completed a full rehearsal of launch day activities pic.twitter.com/jaHNri4LDE

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 10, 2025

The Crew-10 mission will launch on March 12 from Kennedy Space Center, carrying astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Takuya Onishi, and Kirill Peskov. Due to construction delays, the crew will fly on the Endurance capsule instead of the originally planned new Crew Dragon spacecraft.

According to NASA, if the launch proceeds as planned, Crew-9 will undock on March 16 following a two-day handover period on March 14 and 15. However, if there are any delays in Crew-10’s mission, Crew-9’s return will also be pushed back. Backup launch dates for Crew-10 are available on March 13 at 7:35 pm and March 14 at 7:04 pm, which would shift Crew-9’s return to March 17 or 18 accordingly.