NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore depart ISS for Earth
March 18 (UPI) -- A Dragon capsule undocked from the International Space Station early Tuesday, sending NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore on their way home after being stranded on the orbital laboratory for nine months.
The pair of astronauts along with Crew-9 members NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov were aboard the SpaceX capsule as it detached from the ISS at 1:05 a.m. EDT, putting them on the 17-hour flight back to Earth.
The SpaceX Dragon is expected to splash down off the coast of Florida at about 5:57 p.m. EDT on Tuesday.
Williams and Wilmore launched for the ISS on June 5 as the first crewed test flight of Boeing's Starliner and were only expected to be on the orbital eight days.
But the Starliner was sent back to Earth uncrewed over issues with the spacecraft -- including the malfunction of five of its thrusters on approach and helium leaks in its propulsion system that had delayed docking -- leaving the pair stranded on the ISS.
Following months of delays and President Donald Trump last month asking ally and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to "go get" them, Williams and Wilmore are finally on their way home.
The 286 days Williams and Wilmore spent in space is among the longest single space missions in NASA history, but well behind the record of 371 days held by astronaut Frank Rubio.
During their stay, Williams performed two spacewalks, both in January, which pushed her cumulative spacewalking hours to more than 62 -- a new NASA record for total spacewalking time by a woman.
The Dragon capsule is expected to splash down off the coast of Florida at 5:57 p.m. EDT where they will be picked up by a recovery vessel.
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