NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams have finally returned home after a nine-month mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Boeing’s Starliner capsule. Initially, their stay was planned for just one week, but technical issues with the spacecraft prolonged their time in space.
The Starliner mission, which began in June 2024, was supposed to be a crewed flight test of the Boeing Starliner capsule. However, several problems arose during the journey, including helium leaks and thruster failures. As a result, NASA and Boeing sent the uncrewed spacecraft back to Earth before keeping Wilmore and Williams on board the ISS until early 2025.
Wilmore and Williams were scheduled to return home aboard the SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon spacecraft once Crew-10 arrived at the ISS in March 2025. However, the Crew-10 mission was also delayed due to a hydraulic system issue.
The astronauts’ return home was finally cleared for the evening of September 6, with Starliner landing uncrewed at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. Wilmore and Williams expressed their confidence in Starliner’s ability to bring them home safely, despite the delay.
Their nine-month mission marked one of the longest ISS stays by NASA astronauts. The prolonged stay highlighted the challenges faced by space agencies in overcoming technical issues during spacecraft development.
Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/timeline-boeings-starliner-mission-left-nasa-astronauts-aboard/story?id=119867727