The crew of the space vehicle will return to our planet in the coming weeks after living on the International Space Station for more than nine months.
On June 5, 2024, crew members Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams were sent into space aboard the Starliner space capsule. Its destination was the International Space Station (ISS), and it was built by Boeing, which is competing in a space race against SpaceX. It was the spacecraft’s first manned voyage and the final test of its ability to send astronauts to this destination on a recurring basis.
However, after arriving at the site, the spacecraft experienced various problems with its propulsion system that prevented the space vehicle from making its return journey home. Faced with the risk that it might have other undetected problems, NASA decided to return it to Earth without crew, leaving both astronauts on the ISS indefinitely.
During this time, both astronauts became members of the usual group that are on the station, getting involved inresearch and maintenance work. In fact, they have carried out different space walks, which has resulted in Sunita Williams becoming the woman with the highest number of hours of activity in outer space.
Date of return to Earth
After several changes of plan and space travel, NASA will return both astronauts to Earth on March 19, on board the return of SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission. This is a return nine months later than planned, as the initial plan was for both crew members to stay on the ISS for just one week.
In fact, it was the space company itself that decided to bring forward the return of the Crew Dragon spacecraft somewhat earlier than planned for operational reasons, as confirmed by the authorities. Initially, the return to our planet of SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission was not going to be selected for this return mission.
However, the new Crew Dragon that was to carry out the Crew-10 mission has experienced some technical problems linked to the ship’s batteries, which has forced the postponement of its takeoff until the end of next April. That is why the Crew-10 mission has been assigned to the ship already in use, which will be the one to return these astronauts home.
