U.S. astronauts Suni, Butch head back to Earth after delays

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore began traveling home on Tuesday aboard a SpaceX capsule after nine months in space. They were expected to splash down off the coast of Florida at about 6 p.m. EST Tuesday.

The two flew to the International Space Station on Boeing’s Starliner last summer, planning on a short mission. But issues with the experimental spacecraft led NASA to send it back empty and extend the astronauts’ stay to February. SpaceX setbacks pushed their return back another month.

Also returning in the SpaceX capsule are two others, Nick Hague of NASA and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. They joined Williams and Wilmore aboard the space station in September 2024.

Who is the new crew of the International Space Station? The mission members replacing the previous crew are NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. They arrived at the station on Sunday.

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