As per media reports, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore’s return to Earth, after spending nearly nine months in space, is expected on March 19. Their replacement, Crew-10, was docked to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday.
After a two-day handover period between Crew-10 and Crew-9, the latter is expected to return to Earth on March 19. Starliner astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are part of Crew-9.
The Crew 10, a replacement crew, onboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:03 PM ET on March 14. It is expected to arrive at ISS around 11:30 pm ET, Saturday, which is around 9 am IST, Sunday (March 16).
The Crew-10 members will officially join Expedition 72 after assuming duties and responsibilities from the outgoing crew. SpaceX confirmed in a recent post on X that the Falcon 9 first-stage booster successfully landed, marking the 400th landing of a Falcon 9 booster.
Sunita Williams officially transferred command of the ISS to Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, who will lead operations for the next six months. Crew-10 astronauts are scheduled to arrive at the ISS on Saturday, March 15, at 11:30 PM ET.
Williams, along with Butch Wilmore, will depart on March 19, accompanied by NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, according to NASA.
