Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore would return to Earth around March 19, 2025.
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been aboard the International Space Station (ISS) since September, mentioned their date of return while speaking to CNN.
The new schedule shortens Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore’s extended stay in space, which officially reached the eight-month mark last week.
The astronauts were initially scheduled to return by late March or early April. This shift in plans follows NASA and SpaceX’s decision to change the capsules for upcoming astronaut flights.
According to the earlier schedule, Wilmore and Sunita Williams were to return after a week aboard the ISS in June 2024. They were supposed to return aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule. However, technical challenges prevented the Starliner from reaching the ISS, prompting a reassignment to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule.
With the new mid-March return date set, Wilmore and Williams’ extended mission will soon conclude, bringing an end to a journey marked by numerous challenges and delays.
Sunita Williams logs in over 62 hours of spacewalk
In January 2025, Sunita Williams broke the record for total spacewalking time by a woman by logging 62 hours and 6 minutes of spacewalk.
“NASA astronaut Suni Williams just surpassed former astronaut Peggy Whitson’s total spacewalking time of 60 hours and 21 minutes,” NASA said in a post on X.
Sunita Williams’s 62 hours and 6 minutes of spacewalk time surpassed Peggy Whitson’s record for total spacewalking time by a female astronaut. Williams now ranks fourth on NASA’s all-time list.
In 2012, during a mission to the International Space Station, Sunita Williams made history by becoming the first person to complete a triathlon in space. She simulated swimming using a weight-lifting machine, ran on a treadmill while harnessed to prevent floating away, and completed the unique feat while aboard the space station.
