Stranded astronauts finally come home to Earth after 9-month delay

CV NEWS FEED // After an eight- to 10-day mission turned into nine months stranded in outer space, NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore safely returned to Earth March 18.

The astronauts were the first to pilot Boeing’s debuting Starliner capsule, which they docked at the International Space Station last June. The astronauts were only supposed to be at the ISS for about 10 days, according to the website Space. Their main goal was to confirm that Starliner is ready to be the new spacecraft to shuttle astronauts to and from ISS. 

It took two docking attempts before it successfully arrived at the ISS, due to thruster malfunctions, according to Space. NASA began delaying the return date for the astronauts while the thruster issue and other problems, including a small helium leak, were addressed. 

NASA announced in August 2024 that Starliner would be returning to Earth without Wilmore and Williams and projected they would be able to return, at the earliest, in February 2025, according to Space. Wilmore and Williams would return with SpaceX’s Crew-9, which was expected to head for the ISS in September 2024 with two open seats reserved for the stranded astronauts.  

In December 2024, NASA announced that more delays had come up: Crew-9 needed to wait until their replacements with SpaceX’s Crew-10 could arrive and take over the ISS, according to Space. Crew-10 had run into technical delays with its new capsule.

While stranded at the ISS, the two astronauts conducted numerous experiments and more than 900 hours of study, according to NDTV World. Experiments included working to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen with micro-algae, observing how fire spreads in space — an experiment helpful for space mission safety knowledge — and observing the growth of red romaine lettuce in “less-than-ideal” farming conditions, such as amid space travel. 

In February of this year, NASA announced that Crew-10 would be launching with a different capsule called Endurance, to trade out with Crew-9’s capsule called Freedom. Crew-10 docked with the ISS this week, allowing Freedom’s astronauts, and Wilmore and Williams, to come home. 

According to CBS, usually a crew “handover” of the space station would take five days to fully acquaint the new crew with the station. Crew-9’s handover was shortened to a single day, to optimize the forecasted good weather for Freedom’s landing in the waters near Tallahassee, Florida. 

Following their successful landing in the Gulf of America, the astronauts were greeted by several dolphins. 

According to CBS, astronauts at space stations must exercise for two hours a day to combat the anti-gravity effects on muscle and bone health. Now that they are home, Wilmore and Williams will have to undergo “extensive rehabilitation over the next several weeks and months” while they resettle into gravitational living. 

While being stuck in space, Wilmore spoke in a news interview with CBS about what he had learned from the experience. Wilmore shared that his whole perspective was rooted in his Christian faith.

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