NASA stranded astronauts finally returning to Earth on THIS date

After being stuck for more than nine months on the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are finally heading back to Earth.

According to NASA, these US-based stranded astronauts will return on Tuesday (March 18) evening aboard Elon Musk’s SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, accompanied by Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

As part of the Crew-9 mission, the spacecraft is scheduled to undock from the ISS, and NASA will provide live coverage of the event, starting with hatch closure preparations at 10:45pm EDT on Monday.

Both NASA and SpaceX have been closely monitoring weather and splashdown conditions off Florida's coast to ensure a safe return.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced that the Dragon spacecraft had successfully docked with the ISS, carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.

The return mission was launched on Friday, with a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft on the Crew-10 mission.

It should be noted that Williams and Wilmore were initially supposed to stay at the ISS for about a week but ended up extending their stay due to issues with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, which brought them to the ISS in June 2024.

The spacecraft experienced helium leaks and thruster problems, prompting NASA and Boeing to identify and address the issues.