After being stuck in space for over nine months, NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have finally undocked the International Space Station (ISS) and they are now headed back to Earth. For the unversed, Williams and Wilmore were sent to space in June 2024 but with unexpected propulsion problems in their Boeing Starliner, they were stranded at the ISS. Finally, in September 2024 a Dragon spacecraft with two astronauts– Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov– was sent to the ISS, instead of the usual four, with the mission to bring back Williams and Wilmore (part of Crew 9). On March 14, after much delay, four crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission were sent aboard a Dragon spacecraft and it docked the ISS the next day. After a short handover period between Crew 9 and Crew 10, Hague, Williams, Wilmore, and Gorbunov are now scheduled to return to Earth on Wednesday, March 19.
It is interesting to note that at a time when the USA and Russia have strained political equations, it seems that Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams helped in uniting the two nations. How? Well, the two-member crew which was sent to bring back Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore includes NASA’s Nick Hague, who is an American astronaut, and Russian Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. While this was Nick Hague’s second stay at the ISS, it was Aleksandr Gorbunov’s first.
Not just this, the four crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission, who have now replaced Crew 9 members at the ISS, has astronauts from diffferent nationalities, including American and Russian. They are namely: NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
As per NASA, Anne McClain is the Commander of Crew-10 and she will serve as a flight engineer during Expeditions 72/73 aboard the ISS. NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers is the pilot of Crew-10 and this is her first space mission. Meanwhile, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi is a mission specialist for Crew-10 and is making his second flight to the space station. He will serve as a flight engineer during Expeditions 72/73. And, Russian Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov is also a mission specialist for Crew-10 and is making his first flight to the space station. Peskov will serve as a flight engineer during Expeditions 72/73.
Meanwhile, Nick Hague, Aleksandr Gorbunov, Sunita Williams, and Butch Wilmore are currently en route to Earth and they are expected to land at 03:27 AM IST on March 19. The exact splashdown location in the Gulf of Mexico will depend on the weather conditions, as per reports. They’ll then be transported to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, by the recovery team where the astronauts will undergo routine medical assessments.
