Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore embark on 17-hour return following Starliner capsule failure that turned a days-long mission into one lasting nine months
Two Nasa astronauts “stranded” aboard the International Space Station (ISS) since last summer are finally on their way back to Earth on Tuesday, more than nine months after the failure of Boeing’s pioneering Starliner capsule scuppered their originally scheduled week-long mission.
A SpaceX Dragon capsule containing four astronauts, including Starliner’s test pilots Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore, undocked from the orbiting outpost at 1.05am ET (5.05am GMT). The spacecraft is scheduled for a splashdown somewhere off the Florida coast at about 6pm ET after a 17-hour descent, with mission managers determining the precise location after assessing weather conditions.
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