Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore depart from International Space Station to return to Earth after 9 months

NASA's stuck astronauts Sunita Williams, Barry Wilmore's and two others have departed from the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on Tuesday, after being stranded there for nine months.

The astronauts have begun their 17-hour journey from space to earth and are scheduled to splash down in the Gulf of America at 3:30 am IST on Thursday.

NASA and SpaceX on Sunday met to evaluate the weather and splashdown conditions off the coast of Florida in preparation for the return of the Crew-9 mission from the ISS. "NASA will provide live coverage of the agency's SpaceX Crew-9 return to Earth from the International Space Station, beginning with Dragon spacecraft hatch closure preparations at 10:45 p.m. EDT Monday, March 17," said NASA in an official statement.



Furthermore, NASA indicated that mission managers are now aiming for an earlier return opportunity for Crew-9, citing favorable weather 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 before less favorable weather conditions are expected later in the week," the space agency said.

As the return approaches, mission managers will keep a close watch on the weather, as Dragon's undocking is contingent upon several factors, including spacecraft readiness, recovery team readiness, and prevailing sea states.

Meanwhile, SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, which is carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi from JAXA, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, successfully docked with the ISS, as announced by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Sunday.

This event follows a recent mission launched on Friday, which aimed to bring back US astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore from the ISS, where they have been stranded for nine months. The launch involved a Falcon 9 rocket and was part of the Crew-10 mission.

Wilmore and Williams had initially intended for a one-week mission after arriving at the ISS in June of last year. Their return to Earth was complicated by issues with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, which returned unmanned in September following the identification of "helium leaks and experienced issues with the spacecraft reaction control thrusters" on June 6, as it approached the space station.