After being stuck in space for nine months, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are finally getting closer to their long-awaited return to Earth.
The two have been up there since June 2024, expecting a short mission that turned into a prolonged stay due to mechanical issues with their spacecraft.
Joining them on the return flight are fellow astronauts Nick Hague from NASA and Aleksandr Gorbunov from Roscosmos, who’ve been up there since September 2024.
But the journey’s not over just yet, once Wilmore and Williams land, the new crew will spend about four months at the ISS conducting science missions.
On Friday, four new astronauts will launch from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Takuya Onishi (JAXA), and Kirill Peskov (Roscosmos) are on their way to the ISS to replace the current crew.
On Monday, Wilmore and Williams spent their time maintaining the station and “packing for their upcoming departure.”
After months of troubleshooting and delays, it’s finally time to come home.
