• After more than nine months in space, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams return to Earth this week.
• This follows the successful launch and arrival of the Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station at the weekend.
• While the pair arrived aboard a Starliner vessel, they will return to Earth in the capsule that ferried the Crew-9 mission to the Space Station.

Nine months ago astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) aboard Boeing’s Starliner. Before they had even arrived the spacecraft exhibited problems and so, the pair had to extend their stay.

The pair were set to return to Earth once the Crew-10 mission arrived at the ISS which happened at the weekend. As a result, the Crew-9 crew can return to Earth along with Wilmore and Williams on Tuesday.

“NASA and SpaceX met on Sunday to assess weather and splashdown conditions off Florida’s coast for the return of the agency’s Crew-9 mission from the International Space Station. Mission managers are targeting an earlier Crew-9 return opportunity based on favorable conditions forecasted for the evening of Tuesday, March 18. The updated return target continues to allow the space station crew members time to complete handover duties while providing operational flexibility ahead of less favorable weather conditions expected for later in the week,” NASA wrote in an update on Sunday.

Joining Williams and Wilmore on the flight back to Earth will be Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. The quartet will also be carrying time-sensitive research back to Earth. The four travelers will be arriving back to Earth via the Crew-9 capsule which purposefully only had two crew members on its journey to space so that Williams and Wilmore would have a seat to get home.

We’re sure Wilmore and Williams are itching to get back to Earth, considering they were only meant to spend a few days in space when they arrived at the ISS aboard Starliner. Ultimately, however, Starliner returned to Earth without Williams and Wilmore who have had to spend a few more months in space than intended.

Even their extended stay was extended following delays in the Crew-10 mission. The pair were originally expected back in February but delayed final preparations for the Crew-10 launch meant that Wilmore and Williams had to stay longer.

While this unintentional stay was long, it’s far from the longest stint spent in space. That honour belongs to Valeri Polyakov who spent 437 consecutive days in space between 1994 and 1995.

We’re sure the astronauts are eager to get home and we wish them luck when their journey begins in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

[Image – NASA]