Sunita Williams won't be back on Earth before March 19: NASA's latest update

Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams and fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore, who have been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) for nine-months, will not return to Earth before March 19, NASA confirmed.

Williams and Wilmore originally traveled to the ISS in June 2024 for what was supposed to be an eight-day mission, but their journey was significantly prolonged due to technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.

NASA’s crewed mission, SpaceX Crew-10, is targeting a March 14, 7:03 p.m. EDT launch from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The mission will send four astronauts - NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov - to replace Sunita and Butch at the ISS.

Delay in rescue mission

NASA had initially planned to launch Crew-10 earlier but had to delay the mission due to high winds and precipitation along the launch trajectory. In addition, SpaceX engineers had to resolve a hydraulic system issue with a ground support clamp arm for the Falcon 9 rocket at Launch Complex 39A.

NASA now reports that launch conditions are highly favorable, with a greater-than-95% chance of acceptable weather. However, forecasts predict a 50-60% chance of unfavorable conditions if the launch is postponed to March 15 or 16.

Once Crew-10 arrives and docks at the ISS on March 15, they will spend a few days adjusting before taking over operations from Crew-9, which includes Nick Hague, Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Aleksandr Gorbunov.

Sunita and her crew will return to the Earth no earlier than March 19, the agency said.

NASA’s Steve Stich, manager of the Commercial Crew Program, praised the teams involved, stating,

“I am extremely proud of our NASA and SpaceX ground engineers and joint operations teams in quickly identifying and resolving issues. Their commitment to both excellence and safety is a true testament to the strength of this integrated team.”