Working expeditiously to safely bring back Sunita Williams, Butch Willmore: NASA
NASA on Thursday stated that it is “working expeditiously” along with SpaceX to safely bring back Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams and astronaut Butch Willmore, who have been stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) for 238 days.
This statement came after billionaire and SpaceX founder Elon Musk revealed that US President Donald Trump had asked him to facilitate the return of both astronauts as soon as possible. Musk expressed his frustration, calling it “terrible” that the pair had been left “stranded” on the ISS for so long.
“NASA and SpaceX are expeditiously working to safely return the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore as soon as practical,” NASA said in a post on social media platform X.
NASA also mentioned that preparations are underway for the launch of Crew-10 to complete a handover between expeditions. However, the space agency has yet to confirm a specific date for their return.
Musk noted that NASA had already enlisted SpaceX months ago to bring both astronauts back as part of the Crew-9 mission.
Williams has spent over 322 days in space throughout her two missions. She and fellow NASA astronaut Butch Willmore became the first to ride the faulty Starliner, developed by Boeing, in June 2024.
What began as an eight-day mission on the ISS has now stretched into 238 days in space for the astronaut duo. They were initially expected to return in February, but the return has been delayed by a month. They are now scheduled to return to Earth aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule in March.
Earlier, speaking to students from a US school, Williams shared her experience of living on the space station, stating that she has “been trying to remember what it’s like to walk.”
The 59-year-old astronaut is also scheduled to undertake her second spacewalk on Thursday at 6:30 pm. During the mission, she and Wilmore will remove a radio frequency group antenna assembly from the station’s truss and collect surface material samples for analysis to check for microorganisms on the exterior of the ISS, NASA said.
They will also prepare a spare elbow joint for the Canadarm2 robotic arm in case a replacement is needed.
With 50 hours and 40 minutes, Williams is second on the list for total cumulative spacewalk time by a female astronaut.
