NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are finally coming home. The pair’s mission to the International Space Station (ISS) began in June 2024 and was only supposed to last eight days, but technical issues with their Boeing-built Starliner spacecraft resulted in their orbital visit lasting nine months.
The arrival of the SpaceX Crew-10 relief crew on Sunday means the two astronauts can now ride home with two fellow astronauts on the Crew-9 Crew Dragon capsule, with the journey set to begin on Monday night, and splashdown targeted for early evening on Tuesday.
NASA will provide live coverage of the Crew-9 return to Earth from the ISS. Read on for full information on how to watch.
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“Mission managers are targeting an earlier Crew-9 return opportunity based on favorable conditions forecasted for the evening of Tuesday, March 18,” NASA said in a message on its website. “The updated return target continues to allow the space station crew members time to complete handover duties while providing operational flexibility ahead of less favorable weather conditions expected for later in the week.”
While NASA is currently targeting Tuesday evening for the Crew-9 splashdown, the schedule could change. We’ll update here if the target time changes, though you can also check NASA’s X account for the latest information.
How to watch
You can watch all of the coverage on NASA+ or via the video player embedded at the top of this page.
NASA’s livestream coverage of the ISS hatch closure will start at 10:45 p.m. ET on Monday, March 17.
A few hours later, soon after midnight on Tuesday, March 18, coverage of the Crew Dragon’s undocking will start at 12:45 a.m. ET, with the procedure itself expected to take place at about 1:05 a.m. ET.
So long as the weather conditions are suitably calm at the splashdown site off the coast of Florida, coverage will resume on NASA+ at 4:45 p.m. ET on Tuesday, March 18. The Crew Dragon is expected to begin its deorbit burn at about 5:11 p.m. ET, with splashdown taking place at around 5:57 p.m. ET.