NASA astronauts return home after 9 months stranded on ISS
This screengrab made from a NASA livestream shows the SpaceX Dragon Crew-10 member Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov (2L) greeting members of the International Space Station crew shortly after docking at the ISS on March 16, 2025. (AFP Photo)
After more than nine months stranded aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams undocked from the orbital outpost Tuesday, beginning their long-awaited journey home.
The SpaceX capsule carrying Wilmore and Williams, along with American Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, detached from the station at 5:05 a.m. GMT, initiating a 17-hour return flight to Earth.
Mission controllers gave the crew permission to change from their space suits into more comfortable clothes for the journey. If all proceeds as planned, the capsule will splash down off Florida’s coast around 9:57 p.m. GMT Tuesday, where a recovery vessel awaits.
“Colleagues and dear friends who remain on the station… we’ll be waiting for you. Crew-9 is going home,” Hague said after emotional farewells with the remaining ISS crew members.
Extended mission of Wilmore and Williams
Wilmore and Williams launched to the space station in June 2023 for what was intended to be a brief mission testing Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. However, propulsion problems with the Starliner rendered it unfit for their return, forcing it to fly back to Earth empty.
The veteran astronauts, both former Navy pilots aged 62 and 59 respectively, were subsequently reassigned to the NASA-SpaceX Crew-9 mission. Their departure was only possible after the arrival of the relief team, Crew-10, which docked with the station early Sunday.
While their extended stay has captured public attention, their nine-month mission ranks only sixth among U.S. records for single-mission duration. Frank Rubio holds the American record at 371 days set in 2023, while Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov maintains the world record of 437 consecutive days aboard the Mir station.
Psychologists draw attention to stranded ISS astronauts’ mental health
According to Rihana Bokhari of the Center for Space Medicine at Baylor College, the health risks associated with the extended mission are “par for the course” and well understood by NASA.
“Folks like Suni Williams are actually known for their interest in exercise, and so I believe she exercises beyond what is even her normal prescription,” Bokhari told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The unexpected nature of their prolonged mission has nonetheless drawn public sympathy.
“If you found out you went to work today and were going to be stuck in your office for the next nine months, you might have a panic attack,” Joseph Keebler, a psychologist at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, told AFP. “These individuals have shown unbelievable resilience.”
Trump, Musk fault Biden team for extended space mission
The astronauts’ prolonged stay has become entangled in political controversy, with President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk suggesting that former president Joe Biden’s administration abandoned the astronauts and rejected earlier rescue options.
“They shamefully forgot about the Astronauts, because they considered it to be a very embarrassing event for them,” Trump posted on Truth Social Monday.
These claims have sparked criticism within the space community, particularly as NASA’s plan for the astronauts’ return has remained consistent since their Crew-9 reassignment.
Trump has also drawn attention for referring to Williams, a decorated former naval captain, as “the woman with the wild hair” and speculating about the astronauts’ relationship.
“They’ve been left up there—I hope they like each other, maybe they love each other, I don’t know,” he said during a recent White House press conference.
