(NPR) Two NASA astronauts who’ve been on the International Space Station since last summer after their weeklong assignment turned into a nine-month saga are headed back to Earth on Tuesday.
A SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore undocked from the orbiting base at 1:05 a.m. EDT.
The pair — along with fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov — are expected to splash down off the coast of Florida at around 5:57 p.m. EDT Tuesday evening.
Last June, a Boeing spacecraft launched with Williams and Wilmore on board for what was anticipated to be an eight-day mission, but problems with the aerospace company’s capsule meant that the pair were left on the ISS and ultimately incorporated into the space station’s regular crew.
Tuesday’s splashdown will cap a lengthy space odyssey for Williams and Wilmore, whose troubled voyage became mired in politics and raised questions about Boeing’s ability to carry out missions for NASA.
NASA/AP
How the astronauts’ journey went from eight days to nine months
On June 5, Williams and Wilmore rocketed into the cosmos aboard the new Boeing Starliner spacecraft. The flight was part of NASA’s commercial crew program, which contracts with private companies to ferry astronauts and cargo to and from the International Space Station. SpaceX, the other company hired through the program, has been successfully flying missions for NASA for years.
The early summer launch was Starliner’s first trip with a human crew on board. The capsule made it to the ISS, but not before encountering a number of issues, including multiple helium leaks and the malfunctioning of some of its thrusters.
NASA decided that, rather than risk flying Williams and Wilmore back on a questionable craft, they would return the beleaguered Starliner to Earth without a crew.
That meant leaving Williams and Wilmore behind on the ISS, where they would be incorporated into the space station’s regular crew rotation until their replacements arrived months later, NASA announced.
That occurred early Sunday morning, when two NASA astronauts, a Japanese astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut who had docked on the ISS floated through a hatch to greet their colleagues.
Trump says the pair were “abandoned.” NASA says it was planned
Williams’ and Wilmore’s expedition — which spanned two presidential administrations — has been caught up in politics.
Shortly after taking office in January, President Trump said he asked his close political adviser and SpaceX founder Elon Musk to “go get” Williams and Wilmore, whom Trump said had been “virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration.”
In fact, the astronauts’ ride back to Earth had been docked on the ISS since September. The SpaceX Dragon capsule that was flying the pair home on Tuesday arrived at the space station in the fall with two empty seats for the duo’s return trip.
NASA said it had decided to integrate Williams and Wilmore into the space station crew for technical and budgetary reasons, and during their time on the station the pair has been conducting experiments and spacewalks.
Musk said in February that he had made an offer to the Biden administration “months ago” for SpaceX to bring the astronauts home early, but that the administration “refused” and delayed the pair’s return for “political reasons.”
Two former NASA officials under the Biden administration, including former NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, said they were unaware of any such offer.
Trump, in a post on his social media site on Monday, thanked NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro and space agency staff for coordinating Williams’ and Wilmore’s return and accused the Biden administration of being “incapable” of bringing the pair home.
