NASA has announced that astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stranded at the International Space Station (ISS) for nine months, are set to return to Earth in a few hours. The two astronauts initially traveled to the ISS for an eight-day mission.
According to NASA, Williams and Wilmore will land on Earth at 5:57 PM (Eastern Time) on Tuesday. The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which was launched two days ago to retrieve them, successfully docked with the ISS on Sunday. As part of the "Crew-10 Mission," four astronauts entered the space station one by one, paving the way for Williams' return.
The process to bring them back will commence at 10:45 PM on Monday (ET) when the hatch of the Crew Dragon spacecraft will be sealed. At 12:45 AM on Tuesday, the undocking procedure from the ISS will begin. Following this, the spacecraft will start its return journey to Earth at 4:45 PM. It is expected to exit Earth's orbit at 5:11 PM and land in the waters off the Florida coast at 5:57 PM. After landing, the astronauts will be extracted from the spacecraft one by one.
