The two astronauts, trapped for more than nine months at the International Space Station (EEI), will return to Earth on Tuesday, NASA reported this morning.
American astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams, who traveled to the US on June 5, will return home with their compatriot Nic Hague, and with the cosmonaut of Roscosmos Aleksandr Gorbunov in a Space X ship.
William and Wilmore had arrived in June on an inaugural trip of the Boeing Starliner ship that suffered propulsion problems. Therefore, NASA decided that as a precaution the couple did not return to the earth as programmed and the empty ship traveled in autonomous mode after decoupling the US.
On March 15, Spacex’s CREW-10 mission was successfully coupled at the International Space Station (EEI) with the objective, among others, to relieve four astronauts, including Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.
According to the state agency statement, “NASA and Spacex met Sunday to evaluate the weather and ametering conditions on the Florida coast for the return of the CREW-9 mission of the agency from the US. The mission managers aim to advance the return of the CREW-9 to the favorable conditions planned for the night of Tuesday, March 18 ”.
The return mission of these two astronauts has been involved in controversy at the political level, after Elon Musk claimed a fast rescue mission and that President Donald Trump accused his predecessor, Joe Biden, of abandoning astronauts without offering evidence.