Tag: Butch Willmore

  • NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 is now onboard the ISS: Sunita Williams and fellow astronauts perform welcoming ceremony

    NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, along with her fellow astronauts from Expedition 72, welcoming the astronauts from NASA's SpaceX Crew-10. Image credit: Screengrab from NASA+ live stream.

    NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 is now onboard the ISS: Sunita Williams and fellow astronauts perform welcoming ceremony

    NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 has successfully arrived at the International Space Station (ISS), This enabled the return of NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore who were stuck on the ISS for the past 10 months. The hatches of the crew-10 dragon capsule were opened at 12:35 a.m. EDT, and shortly after, the Crew-10 astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Takuya Onishi, and Kirill Peskoventered entered the ISS.

    They were greeted by the Expedition 72 crew, which includes NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Don Pettit, Sunita Williams, and Butch Wilmore, along with Russian cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner, during a welcoming ceremony.

    The Crew-10 Dragon capsule, named Endurance, docked with the ISS at 12:04 a.m. EDT (04:04 GMT) on Sunday, March 16, 2025, securing its position at the Harmony module of the orbiting laboratory. The Crew-10 mission was launched on Friday, March 14, 2025, aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

     

    Return Journey of Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore

    Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore departed from the International Space Station (ISS) on March 18, aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule docked at the station. Their return marks the conclusion of an extraordinary journey that began with a short mission but evolved into an extended stay due to unforeseen challenges.

    The Crew-10 astronauts will spend several months on the ISS, conducting a variety of scientific experiments and maintaining the station’s operations. Their arrival also marks the beginning of a new phase for the ISS crew, as they integrate with the existing team and prepare for future missions.

    This article was last updated with the news of Crew-10 entering the ISS. Keep visiting this page for more updates.

  • NASA: Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will return in March

    Image credit: NASA

    NASA: Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will return in March

    NASA has officially announced that the American astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, along with Crew-9 astronauts, are scheduled to return to Earth, while Crew-10 will launch on March 12.

    Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore docked at the International Space Station (ISS) in June 2024 aboard the Boeing Starliner for an 8-day mission. However, they have been stuck on the ISS for over 9 months as of February 19.

    The Boeing Starliner mission aimed to test the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which was developed over several years by Boeing engineers to transport astronauts to and from the ISS. Traditionally, astronauts have been sent to the ISS using either the Russian Soyuz spacecraft or the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

    Unfortunately, the Boeing Starliner mission encountered multiple delays and malfunctions during both launch and docking. A few months after docking, NASA and Boeing engineers declared the spacecraft unsafe due to several thruster failures and malfunctions. The Boeing Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth uncrewed on September 6.

    Due to the issues with the Boeing Starliner, NASA enlisted SpaceX to facilitate the return of Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore. To accommodate this, two seats were left empty on the SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon spacecraft mission. The Crew-9 Dragon spacecraft docked with the ISS on September 29.

    The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will now return with Crew-9 astronauts Nick Hague, and Roscosmos astronaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, along with Boeing Starliner astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore on March 12.