Sunita William return: ‘They are on their way’: NASA as astronauts undocked from Space Station | Watch

After being stranded for over nine months due to Boeing's faulty starliner, NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday at 10:30 am. They began their 17-hour journey back to Earth, with their splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico expected at 3:30 am on Thursday.

“They're on their way! #Crew9 undocked from the @Space_Station at 1:05am ET (0505 UTC). Reentry and splashdown coverage begins on X, YouTube, and NASA+ at 4:45pm ET (2145 UTC) this evening,” said NASA in a post on X.

The astronaut crew is scheduled to travel back to Earth alongside Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

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“Dragon on-orbit shortly after undocking from the Space Station,” wrote SpaceX on X.

As Nasa went live, Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov were seen packing up and closing the hatches as Crew9 prepared to depart from the Space Station. According to NASA, they were allowed to change from their space suits into more relaxed clothes.

A SpaceX recovery ship will be positioned adjacent to check the spacecraft on board so the crew can be assisted out of the Crew Dragon's cabin and onto stretchers for medical checks. They are expected to have rehabilitation over the next weeks and months once they arrive on the earth.

"It's been a privilege to call the Space Station home, to play my part in its 25-year legacy of doing research for humanity, and to work with colleagues, now friends, from around the globe. My spaceflight career, like most, is full of the unexpected," said Nick Hague.

Trump administration's plan to bring Sunita Williams and Butch Willmore

US President Donald Trump had given the charge of this task to Elon Musk and SpaceX. SpaceX, last week, launched Crew-10 mission to ISS, comprising of four astronauts, which replaced Crew-9. On January 20, Musk said Trump had asked him to pave the way for astronauts' return. NASA and Boeing had understood the situation but concluded that it could be unsafe for Starliner to come back with the crew. The space agency then decided to rope in SpaceX for this mission.