NASA-SpaceX Crew-10 Launch Paves The Way For Return Of Sunita Williams & Barry Wilmore

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have completed over 900 hours of research involving 150 scientific experiments and technology demonstrations during their extended stay on the orbiting laboratory.

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore are set to return to Earth on SpaceX's Crew Dragon which was launched to the ISS on March 12.

Source : PTI

Elon Musk-led SpaceX launched the much-awaited Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station at 4:33 AM on Saturday. The mission is carrying the next set of astronauts to the ISS, who will replace the Crew-9, including NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stuck in space for over eight months now.

The mission is critical as it will finally bring back Williams and Wilmore to Earth after their unexpected extended stay on the space station. NASA and SpaceX launched the Dragon spacecraft with the Falcon-9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre on Friday (local time).

Falcon 9 first stage separation and flip maneuver pic.twitter.com/VWcC2zjnDB

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2025

In its recent statement, NASA said that Crew-9 has completed its science mission aboard the ISS, with Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore completing over 900 hours of research involving 150 unique scientific experiments and technology demonstrations during their extended stay on the orbiting laboratory. Williams and Wilmore could be back on the Crew-9 spacecraft docked at the ISS since September last year.

Williams' And Wilmore's Unexpected Extended Stay At ISS

Williams and her colleague Wilmore were launched to the space station in June 2024 on the first crewed mission of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. The mission was supposed to last around eight days, but ended up extending for over eight months after Starliner experienced malfunctions.

Falcon 9’s first stage booster has landed at Landing Zone 1 pic.twitter.com/OptB0Fv1kD

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2025

Thereafter, NASA decided to return the spacecraft to Earth without its crew onboard. Starliner is remains grounded due to safety concerns, hence NASA deicded to return the astronauts on SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft instead. 

SpaceX's Dragon Freedom had been docked to the ISS since its arrival in late September, and will now serve as the ride home for all the Crew-9 astronauts after Crew-10's docking. It had taken NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov into orbit, leaving two seats empty for Williams and Wilmore for their return, who stayed back at the ISS due to thruster problems in Starliner and to study the issue.

NASA decided it was risky to bring them back on Starliner. Thus, the capsule returned to Earth on September 7 last year, and now its former crew will come back home on Freedom with Hague and Gorbunov.

About SpaceX's Crew-10 Mission

The Crew-10 mission lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain, commander; and Nichole Ayers, pilot; along with mission specialists JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov on a Falcon 9 rocket to the ISS for a science mission which is expected to last six months, according to NASA.

This is NASA's 10th crew rotation mission and the 11th human spaceflight mission to the space station that is supported by the Dragon spacecraft since 2020 as part of the Commercial Crew Program. The Crew Dragon 'Endurance' has previously flown missions such as Crew-3, Crew-5, and Crew-7 and now embarked on another mission to fly the fresh crew to ISS.

After docking, Crew-10 will be welcomed by the crew of Expedition 72 and conduct a handover period on science and maintenance activities with the departing Crew-9 astronauts. 

NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will then undock from the ISS and return to Earth after the mission teams review weather conditions at splashdown sites off Florida coast.

The SpaceX Crew-10 mission will perform research, technology demonstrations, and maintenance activities aboard the microgravity laboratory on ISS.

The astronauts are anticipated to return to Earth around March 19 or 20.

Political Row Over William And Wilmore's Return Delay

Sunita William's return took a political turn after President Donald Trump and Elon Musk accused the Biden administration of intentionally delaying their return. However, the astronauts maintained that their prolonged stay was dictated by safety concerns rather than politics.

Watch Falcon 9 launch Dragon and Crew-10 to the @Space_Station → https://t.co/VPdhVwQFNJ https://t.co/ZeAFaKzKD0

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2025

Recently Trump had addressed the situation of NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, referring to the former as "woman with wild hair". He had said that he "authorised Elon a week ago" to bring back the astronauts.