Off The Record

To Return Trapped NASA Astronauts To Earth, A SpaceX Capsule Arrives At The ISS

Published on March 16, 2025

After the SpaceX spacecraft that was supposed to take the stranded NASA astronauts Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore back to Earth docked with the International Space Station (ISS), they will finally be able to do so.

The pair has been in space for a very long time; last year, they were only intended to be on board the ISS for a few days before they became caught up there due to technical problems with the capsule that was supposed to take them to Earth.

Although the astronauts have acknowledged that they feel the effects of their extended time in space on their bodies, there are, after all, worse places to be than space.

Four more crew members were added to the Crew-10 complement when a SpaceX spaceship arrived with the ISS early this morning (16 March).

Wilmore and Williams, together with Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov and fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague, can now leave the space station.

Although Wilmore and Williams are not leaving the ISS right away, they are expected to leave on Wednesday, March 19, so if there are no more technical issues on their return trip, they should be back in a week.

The astronauts will need to go through a recovery period after returning so that their bodies can acclimate to gravity once more.

A NASA spokesperson previously told LADbible: “All NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station undergo routine medical evaluations, have dedicated flight surgeons monitoring them, and are in good health.”

It will take some time before the couple is back to their best because space travel weakens bone density and causes muscle atrophy.

The two have not been idle, though, as they have taken the extra time to carry out a number of experiments in space, even though they have greatly exceeded the original boundaries of their mission.

However, retired NASA astronaut Cady Coleman disclosed that Wilmore and Williams will not be receiving overtime compensation despite spending months in space while their intended stay was only a few days.

She clarified that, since it’s essentially the same as a work trip, they will receive a small amount of money for “incidentals,” but otherwise they will receive their regular salary.

Williams previously said that the long stay had been hardest on their families, saying: “It’s been a roller coaster for them, probably a little more so than for us.”

She later explained, “We came up prepared to stay long, even though we planned to stay short. That’s what we do in human space flight.”

“That’s what your nation’s human space flight program is all about, planning for unknown, unexpected contingencies. And we did that.”

Fortunately, it will soon be time to return home.