WASHINGTON (Kashmir English): Two NASA astronauts stuck for more than nine months on the International Space Station (ISS) are set to return to Earth today (Tuesday evening).
A technical failure in their initial spacecraft led to an extended stay.
The duo have been stranded aboard the ISS for more than nine months.
Today’s journey will mark the end of an ordeal that the pair gone through nine months at the Space Station.
The astronauts
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will not travel alone rather they are coming home along with another Russian cosmonaut and an American astronaut aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft after a replacement crew arrived at the ISS early Sunday.
The pair have been on the ISS since June last year after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing on its maiden crewed voyage suffered propulsion issues leading to system malfunction and rendering the vehicle unfit for their return journey.
In a statement on Sunday evening, the space agency said that it had moved forward the astronauts’ anticipated ocean splashdown off the Florida coast to approximately 5:57pm on Tuesday. It was initially slated for no sooner than Wednesday.
“The updated return target continues to allow the space station crew members time to complete handover duties while providing operational flexibility ahead of less favourable weather conditions expected for later in the week,” Nasa said.
Nasa astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will also return to the Earth on the Dragon capsule, with the journey to be broadcast live from Monday evening when hatch closure preparations start. Initially, it was a days-long roundtrip.
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore’s stay is much shorter than the US space record of 371 days set by Nasa astronaut Frank Rubio aboard the ISS in 2023, or the world record held by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent 437 continuous days aboard the Mir space station.
