Kuwait City: NASA's astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to earth safely from space after their weeklong mission to the International Space Station was extended to more than nine months. According to Kuwait News Agency, Wilmore and Williams are scheduled to splash down off the coast of Florida aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule around 5:57 p.m. ET. The two astronauts initially launched to space last June on a test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. However, NASA later deemed it too risky for their return. The astronauts are concluding their extended mission with SpaceX's Crew-9, which is part of a regular International Space Station staff rotation. They are joined by NASA's Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. The departure of Crew-9 was facilitated by the recent arrival of four Crew-10 astronauts at the ISS, who have assumed responsibilities at the space station. Wilmore and Williams' prolonged mission became a topic of political discussion when former President Don ald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made statements suggesting that the astronauts could have returned sooner if not for decisions made by the Biden administration.
