"we are excited to bring them back."
Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will return to Earth after a SpaceX capsule carrying a new crew docked at the International Space Station (ISS).
The pair were initially due to stay on the ISS for only eight days.
However, due to technical issues with the experimental spacecraft they arrived on, they have been in space for over nine months.
The astronauts are expected to begin their journey back to Earth later this week.
Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s commercial crew programme, welcomed the development.
He said: “Butch and Suni have done a great job and we are excited to bring them back.”
Live footage showed the SpaceX Crew Dragon docking with the ISS and opening a hatch.
Shortly after 5:45 am GMT, the astronauts embraced and greeted their counterparts in zero gravity.
The current ISS crew, NASA’s Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, will be relieved by four astronauts from Russia, Japan, and two from the US.
A two-day handover will take place before the old crew departs for Earth.
However, there may be a minor delay to ensure safe re-entry conditions, according to Dana Weigel, manager of the ISS programme.
She said: “Weather always has to cooperate, so we’ll take our time over that if it is not favourable.”
Weigel confirmed that preparations for the handover began last week:
“Butch rang a ceremonial bell as Suni handed over command to cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin.”
Despite the extended stay, the astronauts have spoken positively about their time on the ISS, with Sunita Williams calling it her “happy place”.
However, Dr Simeon Barber of the Open University noted that there would likely be a personal impact:
“When you are sent on a work trip that is supposed to last a week, you are not expecting it to take the best part of a year.
“This extended stay in space will have disrupted family life, things will have happened back home that they will have missed out on, so there will have been a period of upheaval.”
The astronauts arrived at the ISS in June 2024 aboard Boeing’s Starliner, an experimental spacecraft developed as a rival to SpaceX’s Dragon.
Starliner’s development had been delayed for years due to technical issues. Problems arose during its launch and docking, including failures in some thrusters and helium leaks in the propulsion system.
NASA ultimately decided against using Starliner for the astronauts’ return, citing safety concerns. Instead, they opted to bring them back on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule during a scheduled crew rotation.
Boeing argued that Starliner was safe for the return trip and was frustrated by NASA’s decision to use a competitor’s spacecraft.
Dr Barber suggested this was a reputational setback for Boeing:
“It’s not a good look for Boeing to see astronauts they took into space come back in a competitor’s craft.”
US President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have claimed that Wilmore and Williams could have returned sooner.
In February 2025, Trump said: “They got left in space.”
When interviewer Sean Hannity added, “They were supposed to be there eight days. They’re there almost 300”, Trump replied: “Biden.”
Musk then asserted:
“They were left up there for political reasons.”
NASA’s Steve Stich rejected this claim:
“We looked at a wide range of options and worked hand-in-hand with SpaceX to look at what was the best thing to do overall, and when we laid all that out, the best option was to have the one we are embarking upon.”
Dr Libby Jackson, head of space at the Science Museum in London and a former ISS mission controller, supported NASA’s decision.
She said: “Butch and Suni’s wellbeing would always have been at the very forefront of everybody’s minds as the decisions were being made for how best to deal with the circumstances that they were presented.
“NASA made those decisions based on good technical reasons, on programmatic reasons, and found the right solution that has kept Butch and Suni safe.
“I really look forward to seeing them return to Earth, safe and sound, along with the rest of their crewmates.”
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