NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams are weeks away from coming back to Earth after a nine-month stint in space. Their return is delayed because they have to wait for their replacements to arrive at the International Space Station (ISS) next week, before they can finally depart later this month.
The two astronauts will be coming back to Earth on a SpaceX capsule, with two astronauts who launched individually in September, as well as two empty seats. Williams answered from the space station on Tuesday, looking back on the ordeal of their lengthy presence. “It’s been a roller coaster for them, probably a little bit more so than for us,” she said, praising the toll on their families.
Wilmore and Williams were originally planning to remain in space only a week after they launched in June in Boeing’s Starliner capsule, which was delayed several times before finally making it to the ISS. The Starliner had been so problematic that NASA declared it was not safe to transport people and sent it back to Earth empty.
There were further delays with extra time needed for the finishing of the new SpaceX capsule that was to take their replacements. NASA recently said that the following crew would be launched in a reused capsule, with launch planned for March 12. The two crews will have about a week together on the space station before Wilmore and Williams return with NASA’s Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov.
Both Wilmore and Williams, both retired Navy captains and seasoned space travelers, have stayed healthy and dedicated during the extended mission. In January, they even performed a spacewalk together.
