Why Sunita Williams Couldn’t Return On SpaceX Homebound Capsule? (image-twitter/CelebSpyFiles)

After six months of delay, finally, three astronauts and one cosmonaut began their journey back to Earth in the SpaceX Dragon capsule. However, NASA’s stranded astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who had left their home planet in June will not head back now. Their arrival has been rescheduled for about one week later.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying four members of the Crew-8 mission which departed from the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday will splash down off the coast of Pensacola, Florida on Friday.

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NASA earlier had planned for Williams and Wilmore to return abroad with the Starliner capsule. However, early in the mission, gas leaks and thruster issues raised safety concerns, leading NASA to reassess the capsule’s reliability. The agency had arranged for their return on SpaceX’s crew-9 capsule.

And this shift required significant planning and even displaced Crew-9’s original astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson, to make room for Williams and Wilmore.

Thus, as of now, Sunita Williams and Wilmore have spent more than 18 weeks on ISIS.

The mission, which was launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida’s Launch Complex 39A on March 5, featured a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket tossing the Dragon spacecraft, named Endeavour, into orbit. This marked the eighth commercial crew rotation mission to the ISS. Astronauts Dominick, Barratt, Epps, and Grebenkin’s journey to the ISS was a scientific expedition that included over 200 experiments and technology demonstrations.

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For the Indian origin, Sunita Williams, the mission has been deeply meaningful, having expressed that their return to space is a dream. However, the unexpected extension of their mission has posed personal challenges for both astronauts. Meanwhile, Wilmore has taken the delay in stride, and remarked, “I’m not gonna fret over it.” Williams also shared that she missed family events but expressed her joy.