Astronauts left at the International Space Station when NASA sends the Boeing Starliner home are expected to return to Earth in the coming days.
Wednesday at 7:48pm SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket’s departure Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft shows the final part of the long Odyssey of NASA astronauts Butchwillmore and Sniwilliams. They may be home as early as Sunday, but NASA will not announce target times until crew 10 arrive at the station.
The pair were left behind safety concerns with Starliner, who returned to Earth without a crew. Their long-term stay then became the focus of President Trump and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, accelerating the timing of the crew’s 10 missions.
Space-released Delta 45 weather squadron forecasts more than 95% chance for good condition at launch site on Wednesday. The first stage booster is scheduled to recover to Cape Canaveral. This means that a portion of Central Florida may be in place for the Sonic Boom.
Florida Pad 39A sunrise pic.twitter.com/dgk6cgiwyj
– SpaceX (@Spacex) March 11, 2025
Heading to the space station are NASA astronauts, commander Anne McLain, pilot Nicole Ayers, and astronauts of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency onishi and Roscosmos Kosmono Kirill Peskov.
They are expected to arrive at the space station within a day. There they will have a two-day handoff with the people they are exchanging.
This includes the duo that flew with the Boeing Starliner crew flight test last summer, with Willmore and Williams. The two arrived on June 6, 2024, a day after they were released from Cape Canaveral on the first human spaceflight on Boeing’s spacecraft.
“To be honest, I most look forward to breaking bread with them, talking to them, and giving them a big hug,” McClain said.
Starliner suffered from thruster failure and helium leaks along the way that NASA finally decided to send it home without Williams and Willmore.
Instead, they joined the space station crew and were reassigned to return home on the SpaceX Crew 9 mission. That crew flew to the freedom of the crew dragons in place of the four regular astronauts in September, in order to create a room to return to Willmore and Williams’ home.
Now they join Crew-9 Commander and NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Los Cosmos astronaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to head for a splashdown off the coast of Florida as early as possible.
At a prenatal press conference last week, Williams said the most difficult part of their stay was probably what their families had to deal with.
“It was a roller coaster for them, but maybe a little more than we do? We’re here, we have a mission. We’re just doing what we do every day,” she said. “We’re in space, so every day is so funny. It’s so much fun. So I think the most difficult thing is to know the people on the ground who know exactly when they’re coming back.”
The decision to switch capsules and raise the pair’s return came soon after SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced that President Trump was tasked with bringing it home “as soon as possible.”
NASA officials said the discussion about the Switch was already playing around at least a month before Musk and Trump’s statement.
“But the president’s interests certainly added energy to the conversation,” said Ken Bowersox, a semester administrator at NASA’s Space Operations Mission Bureau. “It’s great to have a president who’s interested in what we’re doing.”
Musk later claimed that SpaceX offered to carry out certain rescue missions, but that was turned down by the Biden administration on political grounds. However, Bowersox said the NASA manager made recommendations based on Williams and Wilmore’s mission needs and capabilities.
“We thought the plans we came up with made a lot of sense, especially for Butch and Suni, and we know they’re experiencing astronauts,” Baulusox said. “They’re great in space. We knew they were a great addition to their crew, and for most astronauts, spending extra time in orbit is a real gift, and we thought they probably enjoyed their time.
NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich added that many technical requirements are working, including having the pair’s correct sized space suits and seats.
“The best option was really what we’re on for now,” Stitch said. “It really drove us along with Butch and Suni being a very experienced crew.”
Wilmore and Williams spent nine and a half minutes in the space with a unique experience flying on four spaceships: Starliner and Crew Dragon, Russian Soyuz and Space Shuttle Mission.
“We helped put it together. We’ve done a lot of science here, seeing it change all these years,” Williams said. “I think the fact that I live here in this very unique place clearly gives me an incredible perspective on how to solve the problem as well as being outside the window.
“When I leave that inspiration and the spark of that perspective, I don’t want to lose that perspective, so somehow I have to bottle it.”
For Crew 10 Quartets, the mission marks the beginning of the beginning of a Crew 11 mission scheduled to fly at the end of the summer, usually a six-month stay. They will take part in the station’s Expedition 73. This has been in human existence since November 2000. It was McLain and Onisi’s second space flight, with Ayers and Pescov being rookies.
The Ayers will become the first of NASA’s most generous class astronauts, including Luke Delaney from Central Florida, and will be assigned to spaceflight.
“It’s an honor to be the first class on behalf of my class, but I think we were all ready at the same time. “When it was announced for this mission, I didn’t have just love, and there was no love and support from the crew and classmates throughout the training this time.”
McLain said he talks more frequently with Williams and Wilmore.
“We’ve been trying to become housemates here in the last few days. Their spirit is high,” she said. “Of course they’re ready to go home, and of course we’re ready to launch. But most importantly, we’re doing both of these safely.”
She argues that they share the same mindset as her regarding the importance of NASA’s mission at the station, calling it a proof foundation for scientific development and deep space exploration.
“We all put our responsibility to be the manager of the International Space Station very seriously,” she said. “We can’t let it alleviate or leave it in our underwear for a period of time.
“When we go, it’s first and foremost, that level of responsibility. And it certainly matters most to their hearts.”
The confusion over the importance of the station brings about adjoining comments from Mask, who recently requested to remove it, stating it was no longer of any use.
SpaceX and Boeing were originally contracted to provide NASA taxi services to the space station as part of a commercial crew program designed to end their dependence on Russia and bring launches to Florida. However, the delays have bothered Starliner, which is currently at least five years behind SpaceX.
The launch of Crew 10 marks SpaceX’s 16th human spaceflight for the spacecraft since the DEMO-2 mission in May 2020. That flight was the first mark to be released from the US since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011.
With the Space Station scheduled to end service after 2030, there will be a chance to fly alongside SpaceX for a rotating crew mission, as NASA runs out of time to prove the Starliner.
“We will continue to work for certification towards the end of the year,” Stitch said. “No matter what we do, Starliner cars will be crew members.”
