Sunita Williams’ homecoming: Why NASA astronauts’ return was delayed for months
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, NASA astronauts are finally returning to Earth aboard a SpaceX capsule on Tuesday, wrapping up an unexpectedly prolonged mission that began with Boeing’s failed test flight over nine months ago.
The duo bid farewell to the International Space Station or ISS, where they have been stationed since last spring, and departed alongside two other astronauts. Their capsule detached from the ISS before dawn, targeting a splashdown off the Florida coast by early evening, provided weather conditions remain favourable.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, the other two members of Crew-9, joined Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams. Hague and Gorbunov flew to the ISS in September on a Crew Dragon craft with two empty seats.
Why were Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore stuck on ISS?
The two NASA astronauts were expected to be gone just a week or so after launching on Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule on June 5. But soon, so many problems cropped up on the way to the space station that NASA eventually sent Starliner back empty and transferred the test pilots to SpaceX, pushing their homecoming into February. Then SpaceX capsule issues added another month’s delay.
Originally launched for an eight-day mission to the ISS, Williams, 59, and fellow astronaut Wilmore, 62, encountered thruster malfunctions in the Starliner capsule upon approaching the ISS. Subsequent investigations revealed deformed Teflon seals in the thrusters, leading NASA to deem the spacecraft unsafe for their return.
The astronauts’ stay was further extended due to delays in launching their replacement mission, SpaceX’s Crew-10. This mission faced postponements, including a delay from March 12 to March 14, 2025, affecting the timeline for Williams and Wilmore’s return.
Political blame game
The mission became entangled in controversy after President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk, who is also SpaceX’s CEO, claimed without evidence that former president Joe Biden had abandoned Williams and Wilmore on the station for political reasons. The two astronauts rejected this accusation.
The replacement crew’s brand new SpaceX capsule still wasn’t ready to fly, so SpaceX subbed it with a used one, hurrying things along by at least a few weeks.
Returning to Earth
Sunday’s arrival of their relief crew meant Wilmore and Williams could finally leave. NASA cut them loose a little early, given the iffy weather forecast later this week.
Their plight captured the world’s attention, giving new meaning to the phrase “stuck at work”. While other astronauts had logged longer spaceflights over the decades, none had to deal with so much uncertainty or see the length of their mission expand by so much.
Wilmore and Williams quickly transitioned from guests to full-fledged station crew members, conducting experiments, fixing equipment and even spacewalking together. With 62 hours over nine spacewalks, Williams set a new record: the most time spent spacewalking over a career among female astronauts.
Both had lived on the orbiting lab before and knew the ropes, and brushed up on their station training before rocketing away. Williams became the station’s commander three months into their stay and held the post until earlier this month.