NASA's two stuck astronauts are finally closing in on their return to
Earth after 9 months in space
[March 05, 2025]
By MARCIA DUNN
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s two stuck astronauts are just a few
weeks away from finally returning to Earth after nine months in space.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have to wait until their replacements
arrive at the International Space Station next week before they can
check out later this month.
They’ll be joined on their SpaceX ride home by two astronauts who
launched by themselves in September alongside two empty seats.
During a news conference Tuesday, Wilmore said that while politics is
part of life, it did not play into his and Williams' return, moved up a
couple weeks thanks to a change in SpaceX capsules. President Donald
Trump and SpaceX's Elon Musk said at the end of January that they wanted
to accelerate the astronauts' return, blaming the previous
administration.
But Williams, in response to a question, did take issue with Musk's
recent call to dump the space station in two years, rather than waiting
until NASA's projected deorbit in 2031. She noted all the scientific
research being performed at the orbiting lab.
“This place is ticking. It's just really amazing, so I would say we're
actually in our prime right now,” said Williams, a three-time space
station resident. “I would think that right now is probably not the
right time to say quit, call it quits.”
Williams said she can't wait to be reunited with her Labrador
retrievers. The hardest part about the unexpected extended stay, she
added, was the wait by their families back home.
“It’s been a roller coaster for them, probably a little bit more so than
for us," she said. “We're here. We have a mission. We're just just doing
what we do every day, and every day is interesting because we're up in
space and it's a lot of fun.”
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This image taken from video posted by NASA shows, from left, Butch
Wilmore, Nick Hague and Suni Williams speaking during a news
conference, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (NASA via AP)
Wilmore and Williams expected to be gone just a week or so when they
launched last June aboard Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, making its
crew debut after years of delay. The Starliner had so many problems
getting to the space station that NASA ruled it too dangerous to
carry anyone and it flew back empty.
Their homecoming was further delayed by extra completion time needed
for the brand new SpaceX capsule that was supposed to deliver their
replacements.
Last month, NASA announced the next crew would launch in a used
capsule instead, pushing up liftoff to March 12. The two crews will
spend about a week together aboard the space station before Wilmore
and Williams depart with NASA’s Nick Hague and the Russian Space
Agency’s Alexander Gorbunov.
Wilmore and Williams — retired Navy captains and repeat space fliers
— have insisted over the months that they are healthy and committed
to the mission as long as it takes. They took a spacewalk together
in January.
They will wear generic SpaceX flight suits for the ride back, not
the usual custom-made outfits bearing their names because their trip
home in a Dragon capsule was unplanned. That's fine with them,
although Wilmore hinted he might use a pen to write his name on his
suit.
“We’re just Butch and Suni," Williams said. “Everybody knows who we
are by now."
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