In a long-awaited moment, NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are set to return home after being stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) since June last year. The successful arrival of SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission at the ISS marks the beginning of their journey back to Earth.
Crew-10’s Dramatic Arrival
After a 28-hour journey through space, the SpaceX Crew-10 capsule docked at the ISS at 12:05 a.m. EST on Sunday. As the station’s hatch swung open, Wilmore rang the ship’s bell, and the newly arrived astronauts were welcomed with warm hugs and handshakes. Williams, smiling, captured the moment on camera as her colleagues entered the station.
“It was a wonderful day. Great to see our friends arrive,” Williams said, addressing Mission Control.
The Crew-10 team—comprising astronauts from the U.S., Japan, and Russia—will now take over station duties while Williams and Wilmore prepare for their long-awaited return to Earth.
The Unexpected Nine-Month Stay
Originally planned as a short mission, Williams and Wilmore faced an unexpected nine-month stay aboard the ISS after technical failures forced NASA to abandon their return trip in Boeing’s Starliner capsule. The duo was initially set to return in August after the arrival of Crew-9, but delays due to safety concerns left them without an escape vehicle.
NASA ultimately decided to retrieve the astronauts using a SpaceX capsule, which arrived with Crew-10. However, further delays pushed their return back again when the Crew-10 launch was postponed due to technical issues with the ground support system.
The Journey Home
With their replacements now aboard the ISS, Williams and Wilmore are set to return home in the coming days. Weather permitting, their SpaceX capsule will undock no earlier than Wednesday and splash down off the coast of Florida.
Until then, the ISS will host a total of 11 astronauts from the U.S., Russia, and Japan. The mission marks the end of an extended space stay for Williams and Wilmore, who remained resilient through months of uncertainty.
