After almost a year on the International Space Station ( ISS), astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are finally making their way back to Earth. Stephen Green, a friend and colleague of mine, has done a fantastic job of documenting the plight of the two explorers.
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The life telecast of their return to Earth is available here. The spread is scheduled to begin at 4:45 p.m. Eastern.
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Update: At 5:20 p.m., the deorbit burn is full, which means reentry will be the order of the day!
Post of origin:
And how’s a little history to their tale. Stephen wrote:” Earlier this month:
Last June, Butch and Suni traveled to the International Space Station as part of Boeing Starliner’s Crew Flight Test ( CFT ) to certify the spaceship for routine manned missions. During the ISS docking, issues with the support module’s thrusters developed, and NASA made the decision to gain Starliner to Earth autonomous and balance the crew schedule so Suni and Butch could panel a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule with vacant seats.
And another point: For what it’s worth, Starliner safely returned to Earth, and if there had been pilots on board, they would not have been in any hazard. No more CFT operations have been scheduled, and Boeing has not yet confirmed whether the propeller issues have been resolved. The  Starliner might never fly again because ISS is tentatively scheduled to be de-orbited in 2030 ( or sooner ).
They were actually scheduled to spend eight to ten days on the ISS, but they have now been there for 243 times as of this writing. Butch and Suni for their portion seem to enjoy it immensely on the ISS and are enjoying one final long-term planetary be, aside from the pain of being away from their people for eight or nine more times. They are incredibly interested in this astronaut-related products.
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When Williams and Wilmore are staying on the ISS for an additional 11 days, you can imagine how excited they are to return home. Additionally, we now know that SpaceX was unable to save the pilots because of the Biden administration.
On SpaceX’s Dragon aircraft, they will be accompanied by astronomer Nick Hague and spacecraft Aleksandr Gorbunov. Hague expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to spend time on the ISS on X by taking to X. It’s strange to imagine a Russian cosmonaut sharing space on the ISS, as I’ve been fully immersed in NASA past, including the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo plans.
It’s been a pleasure to visit the @Space_Station house, to contribute to its 25-year tradition of conducting human research, and to collaborate with former friends from other countries. Like most people, my flight career is full of the unanticipated. photograph. twitter.com/8 0jJ0Zn1sM— Nick Hague ( @AstroHague ) March 17, 2025
At 1:05 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday morning, Crew-9 was safely undocked from the ISS:
See Dragon leave the @Space_Station and make its way back to Earth with the Crew-9 pilots.— SpaceX ( @SpaceX ) March 18, 2025
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Their reentry course is causing them to cross the Gulf of America ( isn’t that fun to say? ) ):
# Crew9 will be challenging to spot during the day as it reenters Earth’s atmosphere, but we have the map for you if you want to keep an eye out for @SpaceX’s Dragon as it heads home today. photograph. twitter.com/dGmSWXbOyv— NASA ( @NASA ) March 18, 2025
I’ve heard rumours that President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk would greet them, but I haven’t seen assurance however.
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