NASA's two stranded astronauts received their substitutes who were sent to the International Space Station late Friday evening, setting the stage for the original duo's return journey following an extended stay of nine months.
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams require SpaceX to transport this relief team to the space station prior to conducting their checks. The arrival is scheduled for late Saturday night.
NASA aims for overlapping schedules among the two teams, allowing Wilmore and Williams to brief new members about activities onboard the space station. This schedule could lead to their departure next week, with a potential splashdown near the Florida coastline, provided the weather cooperates.
The pair will be accompanied back by astronauts who journeyed up aboard a rescue mission launched via SpaceX in September of last year, along with two vacant seats designated for Wilmore and Williams during the trip back.
Lifting off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the latest batch of astronauts comprises NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, who are both military pilots; along with Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov, who previously served as commercial airline pilots. These four individuals will reside at the space station for approximately half a year—a typical duration—following the release of Wilmore and Williams earlier this spring.
When Wilmore and Williams took off from Cape Canaveral on June 5 as test pilots for Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, they anticipated being away for about a week. However, their journey to the space station was fraught with issues like helium leaks and thruster problems, leading to an extended period of examination by both NASA and Boeing to determine the next steps forward.
NASA ultimately deemed it too risky for Boeing's Starliner to continue without crew onboard, prompting them to order its return unoccupied in September. Consequently, this led to Wilmore and Williams being reassigned to a SpaceX mission scheduled to come back in February. However, their departure faced additional delays as SpaceX had to conduct significant battery work on their newly manufactured capsule prior to sending replacement astronauts. In an effort to shave off some time, SpaceX opted instead for a refurbished capsule, thereby advancing Wilmore and Williams' journey back home to mid-March.
Already drawing global interest, their extended mission acquired a political dimension when President Donald Trump and SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk pledged earlier this year to expedite the astronauts' comeback and criticized the previous government for delaying it.
Former navy captains who resided at the space station previously, Wilmore and Williams have consistently expressed their backing for the choices made by their NASA superiors dating back to last summer.
The duo worked together to maintain the station’s operations—repairing a faulty toilet, tending to plants, and performing experiments—and also conducted a joint spacewalk.
Williams established a new benchmark for females with her cumulative total of nine extravehicular activities, amassing more time spacewalking throughout her career than any woman before her.