Starliner Astronauts Embark on Journey Home After Extended Stay in Space
After an unexpectedly long sojourn among the stars, NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, the crew of the beleaguered Boeing Starliner’s inaugural crewed mission, have begun their voyage back to Earth. Their departure marks a significant moment in a spaceflight saga that has captivated public attention and ignited debate about the future of the Starliner program.
Early Tuesday morning, Williams and Wilmore transferred from the International Space Station (ISS) to a SpaceX Dragon capsule, aptly named Dragon Freedom, and undocked, initiating their journey back to terra firma. Accompanying them on this homeward-bound journey are two members of the Crew-9 mission, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who arrived at the orbital laboratory in September aboard the same Dragon spacecraft.
The Dragon Freedom is scheduled to splash down off the coast of Florida on Tuesday evening, bringing to a close a spaceflight that was initially intended to last only a few days but stretched into a nine-month odyssey. The extended stay thrust Williams and Wilmore into the spotlight, transforming them into near-household names as their ordeal captured the public imagination.
The situation gained political dimensions when former President Donald Trump weighed in, asserting that the astronauts had been "abandoned" or "stuck" in space due to the current administration. He further claimed to have "authorized" SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to retrieve the astronauts, despite the return plan being in place long before.
The groundwork for Wilmore and Williams’ return was laid with the arrival of the Crew-10 astronauts on Saturday. This new team, led by NASA astronaut Anne McClain, includes NASA pilot Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa), and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. The Crew-10 mission replaces the outgoing Crew-9, ensuring a continuous presence and research operations at the space station.
The departure of Williams and Wilmore with the Crew-9 members occurred slightly earlier than initially anticipated. NASA had initially projected a return date no earlier than Wednesday. However, after evaluating weather forecasts off the Florida coast, NASA and SpaceX opted to move the return date forward to take advantage of more favorable conditions for the Dragon’s water landing.
The Dragon Freedom undocked from the ISS Harmony module, a crucial port and passageway on the station, at approximately 1:05 a.m. EDT on Tuesday. The astronauts are now embarked on a roughly 17-hour journey back to Earth, with the water landing expected to occur around 5:57 p.m. EDT off the Florida coast, according to NASA.
NASA is providing live coverage of the landing on its streaming service, NASA+, with coverage commencing at 4:45 p.m. EDT.
Williams and Wilmore’s journey to the ISS began in June when they were selected for the first crewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner. However, technical issues soon emerged, including helium leaks and propulsion problems. These complications prevented the astronauts from returning on the Starliner spacecraft that had carried them to the ISS.
The Starliner, after undocking in September, returned to Earth unmanned, leaving Williams and Wilmore behind. NASA opted to keep them at the station for an extended period to maintain a fully staffed orbital laboratory, rather than launching an emergency rescue mission. In September, the agency launched the SpaceX Crew-9 mission with only two astronauts instead of the planned four, ensuring two seats were available for Williams and Wilmore.
Throughout their extended stay, both astronauts have spoken positively about their time in space, often emphasizing the unique opportunity for scientific research and exploration. They have also actively countered any perception that they are "stuck" at the station, emphasizing that the extended duration is part of the mission’s flexible nature.
"We came up prepared to stay long, even though we planned to stay short," Wilmore said during a recent news conference.
Despite their positive outlook, the extended stay has become politically charged. Since the beginning of his presidency, Trump, along with Elon Musk, have asserted that the astronauts were stranded due to the current administration.
Wilmore offered a diplomatic response to questions about these claims, stating that "the words they said, well, that’s politics. I mean, that’s part of life. From my standpoint, politics has not played into this at all."
The arrival of Crew-10, also travelling via SpaceX, finalized arrangements for Wilmore and Williams departure after more than 280 days in orbit.
After a two-day delay, the Crew-10 mission launched Friday night from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the astronauts into orbit aboard a Dragon capsule. Once separated from the rocket, the Dragon Endurance, which has flown on SpaceX crew missions before, used its own thrusters to autonomously power on to the space station.
Before the outgoing astronauts departed, they spent a few days familiarizing the new arrivals with the orbital laboratory and station operations during a handover period. Ayers, McClain, Onishi, and Peskov will soon become part of Expedition 73 and will remain at the station for about six months on a rotation conducting scientific experiments.
The SpaceX crew missions are contracted under NASA’s commercial crew program, which allows the U.S. space agency to pay SpaceX to launch and transport astronauts and cargo to orbit aboard the company’s own vehicles. The Boeing Starliner is eventually meant to become a second operational vehicle for NASA under the program. However, its path toward certification remains uncertain following its troubled inaugural crewed flight test.
The return of Williams and Wilmore marks a crucial step towards resolution of the issues related to the Starliner program. It remains to be seen if and when the Starliner will be ready for operations.
