Suni Williams says she will likely never return to space after 8-day mission turned into 9 months
NASA astronauts Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Suni Williams reflect on their unexpectedly long mission as they head home after 286 days in space.
What was supposed to be an eight-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) turned into almost nine months due to technical failures on the Boeing Starliner.
As they prepared to leave, emotions ran high as Williams and Wilmore bid farewell to the new Crew-10 team, who are set to take over ISS operations for the next six months. Commander Anne McClain, pilot Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, are replacing Wilmore, Williams, and Crew-9 astronauts Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov.
After undocking from the ISS at 05:05 GMT (01:05 EDT) on Tuesday (18 March), the astronauts are now travelling in a SpaceX capsule on a 17-hour trip back to Earth. They’re expected to splash down off the coast of Florida at 21:57 GMT (17:57 EDT) later today.
Suni had said this space mission might be her last. Joe Raedle / Staff / Getty
However, according to a BBC report, Suni was saddened at the fact this might be her last space mission. “I think just the fact that we’re living up here, in this very unique place, gives you an amazing perspective,” she described. “I don’t want to lose that spark of inspiration when I leave, so I’m going to have to bottle it somehow.
Speaking in the weeks before their departure, Wilmore said they weren’t fazed when their mission was extended.
