Sunita William and Butch Wilmore to Return From Space on Wednesday After Nine Months Wait

Elon Musk’s SpaceX capsule delivered four astronauts to the International Space Station early on Sunday. This was part of a NASA crew swap mission that will allow a pair of stuck astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams to return home after starting for nine months on the orbiting lab.

The SpaceX capsule was launched on Friday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The SpaceX crew dragon capsule docked four new astronauts, representing the US, Japan, and Russia, to the International Space Station (ISS). These astronauts will spend the next few days, learning the station’s ins and outs from Wilmore and Williams.

The Nine Months Wait

The ISS already had a seven-member crew, which included Wilmore and William, both veteran NASA astronauts and retired navy test pilots who had remained on the station after problems with the Boeing Starliner capsule forced NASA to leave them back in space.

After waiting for nine months, Williams and Wilmore are scheduled to depart the ISS on Wednesday along with NASA’s astronaut, Nick Hague and Russian Cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

Sunita Williams told reporters earlier this month that she was looking forward to returning home to see her two dogs and family. “It’s been a rollercoaster for them, probably a little bit more so than for us,” said Williams.