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In a statement on Sunday, NASA said that the ocean splashdown is likely to take place near the Florida coast on March 18.
NASA said that astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will return to Earth on March 18. (Courtesy: X/@Commercial_CreW)
Soon after Crew-10 of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Elon Musk’s SpaceX reached the International Space Station (ISS) to bring back stranded astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore on Sunday, NASA announced when they will return to Earth and confirmed their ocean splashdown time.
NASA said that the two astronauts, who have been stuck in space for over nine months after their Starliner capsule faced some technical issues, will come back on Tuesday evening (March 18).
In a statement, NASA said that the astronauts’ anticipated ocean splashdown will take place near the Florida coast at approximately 5:57 pm Tuesday (2157 GMT and 3:30 am, March 19, IST). Earlier, it was scheduled for Wednesday.
“The updated return target continues to allow the space station crew members time to complete handover duties while providing operational flexibility ahead of less favourable weather conditions expected for later in the week,” said the space agency.
The astronauts will come back home aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon craft, which arrived on Sunday and successfully completed the docking process at 12:04 am ET (9:34 am Indian time), along with an American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut.
On March 14, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was carrying four astronauts who would take the place of Wilmore and Williams.
The two astronauts have been on the ISS since June 2024 after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft suffered propulsion issues and was deemed to be unfit to fly back to Earth.
NASA To Stream Live Coverage Of Astronauts’ Return
NASA further stated that it will be live streaming SpaceX Crew-9’s return to Earth. The coverage will start with Dragon spacecraft hatch closure preparations which will take place at 10:45 pm EDT on Monday (March 17).
NASA astronaut Nick Hague, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, will also come back on the Dragon capsule.
Also Read: Here’s What 9 Months In Space Could Do To Sunita Williams And Butch Wilmore’s Health
Williams and Wilmore’s stay at the ISS was much longer than the stipulated six months. However, they were not able to break the US record of NASA astronaut Frank Rubio who had stayed in space for 371 days in 2023 or Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov’s world record of 437 days aboard the Mir space station.
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