NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, their mission back to Earth: Timeline, how to watch
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams will soon say goodbye to #SpaceStationLife and shed their “stuck in space” persona.
Because according to NASA, a "rescue mission" was never needed for the Boeing Starliner astronauts (see below).
Williams and Wilmore were supposed to be in space for a short duration, not months. Some quick hits:
June 5, 2024: NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams, or Crew-9, were on board the Boeing Starliner rocket that launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station near NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The pair were en route to the International Space Station.
March 14, 2025: NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, or Crew-10, were on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that launched from Kennedy Space Center. The Crew-10 members were aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule for their journey to the International Space Station, which will set up the return to Earth of Crew-9 — Boeing Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.
March 17, 2025, or St. Patrick's Day: 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.
Below is what we know about Boeing Starliner astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, if they were "stuck" or "stranded in space," and a timeline of NASA's live coverage of Crew-9's return and splashdown.
Who are astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore? when will NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore come home?
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were on board Boeing Starliner on June 5, 2024, when the rocket lauched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were sent to the International Space Station for what was supposed to be a monthlong mission. With the launch of NASA, SpaceX Crew-10, this sets in motion a return for Crew-9 (Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore).
The NASA, SpaceX Crew-10 mission launched March 14, 2025, from launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center en route to rendezvous with the International Space Station — paving the way for Boeing Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to finally return home after their June test flight became a nine-month-plus marathon stay in low-Earth orbit.
Next, after a multi-day "handover period" aboard the orbiting outpost, Wilmore and Williams will depart alongside NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbuno on Crew-9's Dragon capsule. The quartet will leave Wednesday at the earliest, NASA said, pending weather conditions at splashdown sites off the Florida coastline.
"I would bet they might have some mixed emotions for leaving. Because you know, every time you get to go to space — which is what all astronauts want to do — you never know. It might be your last time, because you might not be selected for another mission or whatever," NASA Acting Administrator Janet Petro said during Friday's Crew-10 webcast. "So I'd bet they have mixed emotions leaving their colleagues up there at the space station. I'm sure they're anxious to get home and put their feet on Earth and spend time with their family," Petro said.
NASA timeline for live coverage, livestream of Crew-9 astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore return and splashdown
Information and timeline about live coverage and a livestream of Crew-9 astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, according to a news release from NASA:
10:45 p.m. EDT Monday, March 17, 2025, or St. Patrick's Day: SpaceX Dragon spacecraft hatch closure preparations; hatch closing is scheduled at 11:15 p.m. EDT
12:45 a.m. EDT Tuesday, March 18, 2025: undocking coverage
1:05 a.m. EDT Tuesday, March 18, 2025: undocking; after this is achieved, NASA will switch to audio-only coverage
4:45 p.m. EDT Tuesday, March 18, 2025: return coverage
5:11 p.m. EDT Tuesday, March 18, 2025: deorbit burn (approximate time)
5:57 p.m. EDT Tuesday, March 18, 2025: splashdown (approximate time)
7:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday, March 18, 2025: return-to-Earth media conference with Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator, NASA's space operations mission directorate; Steve Stich, manager of NASA's commercial crew program; Jeff Arend, manager for systems engineering and integration, NASA's International Space Station; Sarah Walker, director of Dragon mission management, SpaceX.
Live coverage at floridatoday.com: USA TODAY Network’s Space Team, which consists of FLORIDA TODAY space reporters Rick Neale and Brooke Edwards and visuals journalists Craig Bailey, Malcolm Denemark and Tim Shortt, will provide updates in a mobile-friendly live blog with the NASA Crew-9 return and splashdown livestream at floridatoday.com/space, starting at 10:45 p.m. EDT Monday, March 17, 2025. You can download the free FLORIDA TODAY app, which is available in the App Store or Google Play, or type "floridatoday.com/space" into your browser.
You also can watch coverage via the FLORIDA TODAY app, which is available in the App Store or Google Play. FLORIDA TODAY is part of the USA TODAY Network.
NASA official didn't label NASA, SpaceX Crew-10 a 'rescue mission'
NASA, SpaceX Crew-10 is comprised of NASA astronauts Anne McClain (commander) and Nichole Ayers (pilot); Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (mission specialist); and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov (mission specialist). After the March 14, 2025, rocket launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the crew's SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked at the International Space Station on March 15, 2025.
During a post-launch news conference on March 14, Steve Stich, NASA's commercial crew program manager, addressed whether NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were "stuck or stranded" — and whether Crew-10 was a "rescue mission."
Stich told reporters the duo have always had a way to come home from the International Space Station. In the event of a problem, they would have come home in Starliner first, and then options transitioned to the Crew-8 vehicle and then the Crew-9 vehicle.
"To me, we are embarking upon a handover with two crews. And Butch (Wilmore) and Suni (Williams) happen to be part of the expedition now. They've been there for a number of months, almost 10 months now. And they have executed spacewalks, and they've done science," Stich said. "And so for me, it's a normal handover. Uniquely this time, we launched Butch and Suni with Starliner. We're bringing them home on a Dragon. That's the only difference to me," he said.
For the latest news and launch schedule from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: When do ‘stuck’ space station astronauts return? An estimated timeline
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