'Stranded' astronauts return to Earth after 9 months at the space station, live stream

After 286 days in space, two American astronauts, who have got stuck at the international space station since last spring, are finally on the way back to earth … and we are putting their arrival of their space.

Butch Wilmore And Sunita “Suni” Williams It is expected to burst at around 5:50 p.m. ET off the Florida coast after a 19-hour trip to a SpaceX spacecraft next to astronauts Nick Haag And Aleksandr Gorbunov.

An aid team arrived on the ISS Sunday and gave Butch and Sununi the green light home after 9 months in space. NASA even came up by a day to avoid unfavorable weather this week.

Wilmore and Williams, both test pilots, should only be 8 days in space … They flew with the Boeing Starliner to the ISS in June last year, but due to stress problems and helium -leaks, NASA decided to make the spaceship completely empty -which forced the unexpected residence cation for Butch and Sununi. They were Stuck at the international space station Since.

To be clear … they were never really “stranded” – Butch and Sununi had arrived at the ISS, which was prepared for a longer stay if something went sideways on the mission … as was done. NASA considered whether the two could fly back to the Boeing Starliner, but NASA took a veto when they achieved this return trip via security concerns.

Then they had the opportunity to return in September, but they decided on the stay because the SpaceX craft skilled at the time stopped 2 crew members from the flight to give the book and Sununi seats for the return trip … but that would not have left any replacement for the ISS if they left. So they stayed.