Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore to Return to Earth in a Few Hours

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.