NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore left the International Space Station and began a return journey to the Earth. The SpaceX Dragon capsule left the station at midnight with four astronauts.
NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov accompany Williams and Wilmore in the return capsule.
The spacecraft is expected to land at Florida at 21:57 GMT (TSI 00:57) after a 17 -hour landing. The landing point, air and sea conditions will be finalized after evaluating.
The two astronauts arrived at UUI on June 6 last year as the test pilots of Boeing’s Starliner capsule. This task would last for a maximum of 10 days. However, technical problems in Starliner changed plans. NASA and Boeing had to send the capsule back to the world in September 2024. Williams and Wilmore remained at the space station instead of other astronauts.
The long -lasting space adventure of astronauts caused political controversy over time. Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, claimed that astronauts were “abandoned” by Biden administration.
Astronauts were in a difficult situation among these political conflicts. “We do not feel abandoned or stranded,” Wilmore said in a statement from space. Astronot, “let’s change the expressions, let’s change the narrative ‘is called’ prepared and stable ‘he said.
Musk also discussed with the Danish Astronaut Andreas Mogensen.
Mogensen accused Musk of lying. He said that the return of Williams and Wilmore has been planned since September.
