Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore’s return: How the mission to bring back astronauts is planned

After spending over eight months in space, NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” E. Wilmore are preparing to return to Earth. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, set to bring them back, will launch aboard a Falcon-9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 12.

The Dragon spacecraft will carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain (commander) and Nichole Ayers (pilot), along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov as mission specialists. The team has already completed a full dress rehearsal for the launch.

The Falcon-9 rocket is scheduled to lift off at 5:18 am IST on March 12, with the Dragon spacecraft expected to reach the ISS approximately 12 hours after launch.

Once Crew-10 arrives at the ISS, Williams—who has been leading the station—will handover scientific experiments to the new team. This transition phase could take anywhere from a few days to a week.

Following the handover, Crew-9, including Williams and Wilmore, will board the Crew Dragon Freedom for their return journey. The spacecraft is scheduled to undock on March 16 at 6:30 pm IST, though this may shift depending on weather conditions.

Williams and Wilmore have been stuck in space since June last year due to technical problems with Boeing's Starliner, which took them to ISS. Speaking to media from space, the astronaut duo said that they will return after the Crew-10 mission begins their journey from Earth to the ISS.

The undocking and return process will be closely monitored by NASA and SpaceX, with the precise splashdown timing dependent on weather conditions and de-orbit procedures.

Once re-entry begins, the Crew Dragon Freedom will descend towards Earth’s atmosphere, with the splashdown expected to take place in the Atlantic Ocean, marking the successful completion of the Crew-9 mission.