Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams to return later in March 2025 from space

After yet another delay, the earth will wave at Indian-origin astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore by March 2025.

NASA on Wednesday announced that both the stranded astronauts are expected to take off in late March 2025.

On Tuesday, NASA’s Johnson Space Center shared Don Pettit and Suni Williams's picture of celebrating Christmas in space.

“Don Pettit and Suni Williams pose for a fun holiday season portrait while speaking on a ham radio inside the @Space_Station’s Columbus laboratory module,” wrote NASA on X.

“Known as a handover period, it allows Crew-9 to share any lessons learned with the newly arrived crew and support a better transition for ongoing science and maintenance at the complex,” NASA said on Tuesday.

It was June 5, 2024, when Williams and Wilmore launched for the ISS aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft as part of a test flight. They arrived at the ISS on June 6, with plans to return to Earth a week later. However, technical issues in the Starliner spacecraft have stalled their return.

NASA and SpaceX were set to launch the Crew-10 mission in February, which has now been delayed. New Dragon spacecraft are being manufactured for this mission, which will carry four people to the ISS. 

Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program Manager, stated that the fabrication, assembly, testing, and final integration of the spacecraft would take some time. As a result, Sunita and Butch will need to stay at the station for another month.

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NASA-SpaceX mission to bring back Sunita Williams on way to ISS