The Pinnacle of Getting More Than You Bargained For: Astronauts Wilmore and Williams Return Home

The journey that captured the world. Section Editor Chantelle Mackintosh recaps the events that lead to the delayed return to Earth of Astronauts from the International Space Station. 

On 5 June 2024, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched into space on a Boeing Starliner for a one week mission. Little did they know, they would be spending nine months stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) before they could return home.

What Kept Going Wrong?

The purpose of their trip was to test if Boeing aircraft could be used for human space travel. This would provide NASA an alternative to SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk. 

The Starliner encountered some thrusting issues when approaching the ISS, taking a few attempts to successfully land. 

Here, Wilmore and Williams joined the seven-member crew of Expedition 71. 

Then, NASA started pushing back their return date in order to fix the initial docking issues. This uncovered a few other minor problems that also required fixing, further extending the mission.

Initially, NASA estimated the maximum mission length would be forty-five days, but were quickly forced to move beyond this deadline as more issues cropped up. Eventually, NASA announced the Starliner would return to Earth without its crew. During this time, some members of Expedition 71 left, as they had already been in space for five months. 

The SpaceX Crew Nine capsule launched with two fewer of its crew, in order to make room for Wilmore and Williams. However, they would not leave until Crew Ten arrived in early 2025. This crew was delayed due to issues with the new type of capsule. In the meantime, Wilmore and Williams officially joined Crew Nine and helped them with their experiments and research. 

But then, NASA made another announcement about the stranded astronauts, moving their return date forwards instead of backwards! SpaceX ditched their new capsule, instead refurbishing an older model. This allowed Crew 10 to reach space a few weeks earlier than expected.

Home at Long Last

On 17th March 2025, Wilmore and Williams finally returned home, landing in a SpaceX shuttle in the Gulf of Mexico. Both were wheeled off for medical examinations before being reunited with their families. 

Wilmore had missed most of his youngest daughter’s senior year of high school, while his eldest daughter was in college. 

Williams left her two dogs in the care of her husband, however her mother was the most worried about her. 

The two American astronauts also missed the Presidential Election, instead submitting absentee votes from space. 

During Their Stay

In January, Williams set the record for the most time spent performing Extravehicular Activities (EVA’s) by a woman with a total of sixty-two hours and six minutes of spacewalking time. 

The pair also helped the crew with one-hundred-and-fifty experiments and nine-hundred hours of research. 

Wilmore and Williams are testament to the passion astronauts have for the space program. Despite being met with adversity at every turn, they never lost hope.

Boeing’s future in space travel is still being determined after its failure. 

References:

Dossett, Julian. “How NASA’s Starliner Mission Went from 10 Days to 9 Months: A Timeline.” Space.Com, 18 Mar. 2025, www.space.com/space-exploration/international-space-station/why-nasas-starliner-astronauts-spent-9-months-in-space-on-a-10-day-mission-a-timeline.