NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams said goodbye to #SpaceStationLife, shedding their “stuck in space” persona.
Although, according to NASA, a “rescue mission” was never needed for the Boeing Starliner astronauts. Williams and Wilmore were supposed to be in space for a short duration, not months. Some quick hits:
June 5, 2024: NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, or Crew-9, were on board the Boeing Starliner rocket that launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The pair were en route to the International Space Station.
March 14, 2025: NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, or Crew-10, were on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that launched from Kennedy Space Center. The Crew-10 members were aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule for their journey to the International Space Station, which will set up the return to Earth of Crew-9 — Boeing Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.
March 18, 2025: NASA’s Crew-9 astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams safely returned to Earth from the International Space Station onboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, with splashdown off the Gulf Coast of Florida south of Tallahassee.
March 31, 2025: After their long-duration science mission aboard the International Space Station, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts discuss their expedition during a postflight news conference from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Who are astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore? When did NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore come home?
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were on board Boeing Starliner on June 5, 2024, when the rocket lauched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were sent to the International Space Station for what was supposed to be a short mission. The launch of NASA, SpaceX Crew-10 helped set in motion the return for Crew-9 (Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore).
The NASA, SpaceX Crew-10 mission launched March 14, 2025, from launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center en route to rendezvous with the International Space Station — paving the way for Boeing Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to finally return home after their June 2024 test flight became a nine-month-plus marathon stay in low-Earth orbit.
Wilmore and Williams departed alongside NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbuno on Crew-9’s Dragon capsule, and all four were part of the March 18, 2025, splashdown off the coast of Florida.
What’s next for the Boeing Starliner capsule?
Turns out, NASA is still looking to use Starliner to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station and Boeing is onboard, working to solve the thruster issue that led to NASA deciding to have the Starliner that carried Butch Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams to the International Space Station return to Earth empty.
Williams and Wilmore, who were supposed to be on a Starliner demonstration flight of about 8-10 days, ended up staying at the space station for more than nine months. The pair returned to Earth more than nine months later aboard a SpaceX Dragon Capsule.
Photos of NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, ‘stuck’ astronaut in space
Contributing: Rick Neale, FLORIDA TODAY
Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @byjensangalang. Support local journalism. Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore: Photos of Crew-9 member who was ‘stuck’ in space
Reporting by Jennifer Sangalang and Brooke Edwards, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Florida Today
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