Washington, DC:
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, whose quick mission to the Worldwide House Station (ISS) ast 12 months has become a 10-month marathon, are lastly gearing up for a return to Earth. The American area company has cleared to launch on SpaceX’s Crew10 this week, which is able to carry the duo again as early as March 16, NASA officers have mentioned. 

Sunita (Suni) Williams and Barry Wilmore initially launched into a 10-day mission aboard the Boeing Starliner on June 5, 2024, however the spacecraft skilled thruster malfunctions throughout its method and docking maneuvers. This resulted in an intensive investigation by NASA and Boeing again on the bottom, with the area company lastly declaring the Starliner too dangerous to hold astronauts again house.

The spacecraft returned to Earth with out its crew in September, leaving the 2 astronauts with out a trip house. 

Later, NASA determined to carry each its astronauts again to Earth with the assistance of billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Williams and Wilmore had been added to the downward leg of SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission, which was launched with solely two members — NASA’s astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov —  in September, making it doable to accommodate the duo stranded in area.

Crew-9’s return was initially scheduled for February after it accomplished its six-month keep at ISS, nevertheless it was postponed on account of logistical changes. Lastly, NASA cleared the launch of Crew 10 on Friday. 

Crew-10, SpaceX, and @NASA accomplished a full rehearsal of launch day actions pic.twitter.com/jaHNri4LDE

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 10, 2025

The mission will likely be launched on March 12 from Kennedy House Middle, carrying astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Takuya Onishi, and Kirill Peskov. Resulting from building delays, the crew is flying on the Endurance capsule as a substitute of the initially deliberate new Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Based on NASA, if the launch proceeds as deliberate, Crew 9 will undock on March 16 following a two-day handover interval on March 14 and 15.

Nevertheless, in case there are any delays in Crew10’s mission, Crew 9’s return will even be pushed again. Backup launch dates for Crew 10 can be found on March 13 at 7:35 pm and March 14 at 7:04 pm, which might shift Crew 9’s return to March 17 or 18 accordingly.