Science Astronauts stranded on the ISS begin their return journey to Earth
Two US astronauts had to wait more than nine months on the International Space Station (ISS) due to a technical malfunction - now their return journey to Earth has begun.
18.03.2025, 06:20
18.03.2025, 06:28
SDA
Suni Williams and Barry Wilmore, who were originally only supposed to stay in space for a few days, left the ISS on board a "Crew Dragon" space capsule, as live footage from the US space agency Nasa showed.
They were joined by their US colleague Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov, who both arrived on the ISS in September. The capsule of "Crew 9" is due to land in the sea off the coast of the US state of Florida at around 11 p.m. German time.
Mishap with "Starliner": days turned into months
Williams and Wilmore arrived at the ISS at the beginning of June and were only supposed to stay there for around a week. However, due to technical problems with their "Starliner" spacecraft, NASA decided for safety reasons to let the spacecraft developed by the US company Boeing fly back to Earth empty.
In September, only two instead of the originally planned four space travelers, Hague and Gorbunov, flew to the ISS in a "Crew Dragon" from tech billionaire Elon Musk's aerospace company SpaceX - leaving two seats free for Williams and Wilmore. The 59-year-old Williams and her 62-year-old colleague Wilmore had been to space several times before and are considered experienced astronauts. The plan for Hague and Gorbunov from the outset was for them to stay on the space station for six months.
"Crew 10" greeted with hugs
At the weekend, the four-member "Crew 10" arrived at the outpost of humanity to replace "Crew 9" on board the ISS. US astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov are to remain in space until the fall. They were greeted with warm hugs.
US astronaut Don Pettit and the two Russian cosmonauts Alexei Ovchinin and Ivan Wagner will also remain on board the ISS as planned. They arrived there in September.
