Starliner astronauts go back to Earth with SpaceX crew-9 duo to make long-awaited landing

Butch Wilmore and Sununi Williams go back to earth after an unexpectedly long and eventful space mission and you can watch your return live.

Wilmore, Williams, Nasa -Astronaut Nick Hague and Cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov left the International Space Station (ISS) on the early Tuesday morning (March 18) on board the Space Crew Dragon Capsel Capsule “Freedom”.

The failure occurred

“It was a privilege to call [the] Station Home, to live and work and to be part of a mission and a team that includes and working together to work together in cooperation with the benefit of humanity, “said Hague, commander of Freedom.” Crew 9 goes home. “

You can see the action live over NASA. Space.com will also wear the feed.

The NASA stream will be picked up on Tuesday at 4:45 p.m. EDT (2045 GMT) for descent operations. Freedom will carry out a deorbit fire at 17.11.11 PM EDT (2111 GMT) and then burst 46 minutes later off the coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. (President Donald Trump has signed an executive regulation that renamed the water of the Gulf of America.)

Related: International Space Station: Everything you need to know about the Orbitallabor

The exact Splashdown location is confirmed closer to the return time, the NASA officers said.

Butch Wilmore, Aleksandr Gorbunov, Nick Hague and Sununi Williams waves and pose for photos before returning to the SpaceX crew Dragon “Freiheit” on March 17, 2025. (Photo credit: NASA TV)

Wilmore and Williams should already be at home. They started last June on Boeing's first occupation mission last June.

This flight is expected to only take 10 days, but Starliner had loyalty problems, so NASA delayed the return of the capsule to examine the problem. The agency finally decided to bring Starliner home, which took place in early September, and Fold Wilmore and Williams to the Long Duration Expedition 72 mission of the ISS.

This plan asked Wilmore and Williams to drive home via Freedom, which started at the ISS crew 9 mission at the end of September at the end of September at the end of September. Freedom only caught Hague and Gorbunov – half of the usual crew dragon contingent – to save seats for the Starliner -Duo on the downward journey.

A white and black SpaceX kite capsule with four crew 9 astronauts leaves the ISS

SpaceX 'Crew Dragon Spacecraft “Freedom” can be seen from the international space station when it begins back to Earth on March 18, 2025. (Photo credit: NASA TV)

Wilmore and Williams' situation has attracted a lot of attention, especially in the past two months. Recently both the CEO of President Trump and the CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, characterized the duo as “stranded” in orbit, although their crew dragon draged home, and Musk claimed that the bid administration left it there longer than necessary “for political reasons”.

“Sometimes it undoubtedly tried,” said Wilmore in an interview with Michael Barbaro, a moderator of the New York Times' The Daily “.” But 'Stranded?' No. 'Stuck?' No. 'Leave?' NO.”

The return of crew-9 to Earth was set in motion by the arrival of the SpaceX 'crew-10 mission, which set up with the ISS early Sunday morning (March 16).

Starliner astronauts go back to Earth with SpaceX crew-9 duo to make long-awaited landing

Related posts:

Baba Miller achieves 17 and Florida Atlantic decreases Südflorida 69-63

Happy Gilmore 2 Trailer, July publication date for Adam Sandler Continued

The 83-year-old man enjoys the hot air balloon ride in the viral video, calls it an "incredible" exp...