NASA astronauts Sunita Williams, and Butch Wilmore, who have been stranded in space for the past eight months due to an extended spaceflight mission, are expected to return home next month.
In an exclusive interview with CNN, Sunita Williams and her crew partner Butch Wilmore, aboard the International Space Station (ISS), confirmed that the Crew-10 mission is scheduled to launch from Earth on March 12 and bring them home a week later on March 19.
Crew-10 Mission To The Rescue
The Crew-10 mission will carry a four-personnel team of NASA astronauts Anne McClain, and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov to the space station for a six-month-long mission.
Following Crew-10’s arrival, both the astronauts will participate in a week-long handover process, after which a new Space Station Commander will take charge. Currently, Sunita Williams is the commander of the flying laboratory.
After the handover, Williams and Wilmore will board the Dragon spacecraft that brought the Crew-10 to space, which will undock on Earth on March 19.
“The plan is that Crew-10 will launch on March 12, do a turnover for a week and we will return on March 19,” astronaut Butch Willmore told CNN in the interview.
Stranded In Space
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore flew to the International Space Station’s Boeing Starliner on June 5 last year and have been stuck since due to technical problems with the spacecraft.
The move comes after US President Donald Trump asked SpaceX’s Elon Musk to “go get abandoned astronauts” from space, urging immediate facilitation of their return.
“I have just asked Elon Musk and SpaceX to “go get” the 2 brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration. They have been waiting for many months on Space Station. Elon will soon be on his way. Hopefully, all will be safe. Good luck Elon!!!,” Donald Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform.
I have just asked Elon Musk and @SpaceX to “go get” the 2 brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration. They have been waiting for many months on Space Station. Elon will soon be on his way. Hopefully, all will be safe. Good luck…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) January 29, 2025
SpaceX developed its Crew Dragon capsule with roughly $3 billion in funding from NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
“Human spaceflight is full of unexpected challenges. Our operational flexibility is enabled by the tremendous partnership between NASA and SpaceX and the agility SpaceX continues to demonstrate to safely meet the agency’s emerging needs,” said Steve Stich, manager, of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
