【Epoch Times News, March 15, 2025】After a 9-month mission delay, NASA’s mission is finally coming to an end. On Friday night, the Falcon 9 rocket of SpaceX successfully launched, sending a new batch of astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) and welcoming back the stranded NASA astronauts.
Last September, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard the Starliner had to return early due to technical issues. They had to wait for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft to send a new batch of astronauts to the ISS and bring back the two of them.
The spacecraft is expected to arrive at the space station late on Saturday. NASA hopes that the two teams can exchange so that the two astronauts can brief the incoming team on the details of the orbital laboratory. If weather conditions permit, they will undock next week and return to Earth, splashdown near the Florida coast.
The crew that departed included Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers from NASA, both military pilots; as well as Takuya Onishi from Japan and Kirill Peskov from Russia, both former commercial airline pilots. The four will spend the next six months at the space station.
“Space travel is tough, but it can’t beat humans.” McClain said a few minutes into the journey.
Wilmore and Williams, test pilots for Boeing’s Starliner, launched on June 5, 2024, from Cape Canaveral, originally planning to stay in space for about a week.
However, a series of helium leaks and thruster malfunctions delayed their trip to the space station. NASA and Boeing spent several months investigating the malfunctions and studying how to continue the journey in the best way.
Ultimately, despite Boeing’s repeated assurances of safety, NASA deemed it unsuitable for carrying people and requested the spacecraft to return to Earth on September 6, 2024, in an unmanned mode, and had Wilmore and Williams switch to the SpaceX flight scheduled to return in February.
However, the new SpaceX spacecraft needed extensive battery repairs before launching, further delaying their return. SpaceX ended up using an older spacecraft, bringing Wilmore and Williams home in mid-March.
This unexpectedly extended mission has drawn global attention, with President Trump and SpaceX CEO Musk promising earlier this year to expedite the astronauts’ return and blaming the previous administration for delaying the process, turning the mission into a political controversy.
Former Navy captains Wilmore and Williams, who have both lived on the space station before, have repeatedly expressed their support for NASA’s decisions since last summer.
They helped maintain the space station, including repairing damaged toilets, watering plants, conducting experiments, and even going on spacewalks together. Williams has completed nine spacewalks, setting a new record for the longest time spent spacewalking by a woman in her career.
The spacecraft has reserved two seats for Wilmore and Williams on their return trip. They will return alongside NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, with the earliest scheduled departure on Sunday early morning Eastern Time aboard the Crew Dragon.
Just before the rescue mission departed, the Falcon 9 rocket’s ground support clamp arm experienced hydraulic system issues, causing the initial launch on Wednesday to be delayed. SpaceX subsequently flushed the hydraulic system of the robotic arm, removing any air bubbles.
The prolonged stay for the two astronauts has been particularly challenging for their families, including Wilmore’s wife and two daughters, as well as Williams’ husband and mother.
Apart from reuniting with their families, as an elder in the church, Wilmore also looks forward to resuming face-to-face missionary work, while Williams can’t wait to take her two Labrador dogs for a walk.
“We appreciate everyone’s love and support,” Williams said in an interview earlier this week. “This mission has brought some attention, both good and bad. I think the good part is that more and more people are interested in our space exploration work.”
(This article references related reports from The Associated Press)