Suni Williams and other astronauts greeting each other after the SpaceX capsule docked with the International Space Station on March 16, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI

NASA’s two stranded astronauts began their journey back to Earth aboard a SpaceX capsule on Tuesday (March 18, 2025), marking the end of an unexpectedly prolonged mission.

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Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who were originally part of Boeing’s troubled test flight, spent more than nine months in space. They departed the International Space Station (ISS) alongside two other astronauts, finally bringing their dramatic mission to a close.

Wilmore and Williams arrived at the ISS in June 2024 aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, initially scheduled for an eight-day mission. However, their short trip stretched into nearly nine months after NASA, citing technical issues with the Boeing vehicle, decided in August that the duo would return on a SpaceX capsule instead.

Their prolonged stay captured global attention, with some media outlets dubbing them the “stranded” astronauts — a reflection of NASA’s cautious decision to avoid sending them home in the troubled Starliner.

Here’s a timeline on the Starliner mission, and astronauts’ return to Earth: