NASA and SpaceX confirms Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore’s return flight for March

NASA and SpaceX have announced a return flight date for the stranded astronauts – Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, which will happen in March.

In June 2024, the space agency launched these two astronauts to Space Station via Boeing Starliner spacecraft. After a delayed launch, the aircraft managed to dock at the orbiting laboratory.

These astronauts were scheduled to return to Earth in about a week but the spacecraft occurred with hardware issues. Since then, the crew has remained stuck at the space station and waiting for the next recovery mission.

Both launch partners have announced their flight preparations and targeting Wednesday, March 12, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Crew-9 will enter the returning capsule after a several-day handover period with the new Crew-10 expedition astronauts. Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov will accompany Suni William and Butch Wilmore on their way to Earth.

As a part of the handover, the Crew-9 will help the newly onboarding astronauts to understand the current science and station maintenance work including the transition of on-board operations. The launch and return could be adjusted based on the weather condition for vehicle liftoff and capsule splashdown.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida with Crew-9 mission (Source – SpaceX)

The agency has decided to fly a used SpaceX Dragon capsule named Endurance for this mission, which will cut the requirement for additional processing time compared to a fresh spacecraft planned earlier. The spacecraft employed for Crew-10 will complete its 4th flight to the space station and previously flew Crew-3, Crew-5, and Crew-7 missions.

Teams are assessing the spacecraft to ensure crew safety and meet certification requirements. Once assessed, Dragon will get refurbishments to prepare for flight and host human passengers.

The Crew-10 mission includes NASA astronauts Anne McClain, and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.

This will be the first flight for Ayers and Peskov, and the second for McClain and Onishi. The agency will host a conference to brief about this launch event and you can check more details here.

(source)