Hyderabad: 

 "Sunita Williams's much-awaited return to Earth has begun. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Williams, who have been stuck at the International Space Station for more than nine months, are now making final preparation for their homecoming," NASA said in its live coverage.

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying Crew-9 members, including stranded astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) as scheduled and started its return journey towards Earth. The crew is Scheduled to splashdown  around 3:27 AM IST (March 19) off the coast of Florida.

 The returning crew also includes astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. They left for Earth after hatch closure and undocking from the ISS at around 10:35 AM IST.

NASA hosted a livestream of the undocking coverage, starting with the closure of the hatch at 8:15 AM (March 18). The undocking coverage began at 10:15 AM and ended after Dragon undocked at 10:35 AM. While the real-time audio feed remains available, the livestream of the return coverage will start at 2:15 AM IST (March 19) and continue until Dragon splashes down. The crew is scheduled for a deorbit burn around 2:41 AM IST (March 19), followed by a splashdown around 3:27 AM IST (March 19).

Following the safe return of the Crew-9 members, NASA will host the Return-to-Earth media conference with NASA and SpaceX officials taking the questions. All livestreams will be available at the space agency's free streaming platform NASA+ (formerly known as NASA TV) at plus.nasa.gov. The programming will also be available via NASA's social media accounts on X, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch.

Williams and Wilmore had been waiting for their return ever since. NASA's Nick Hague and Russia's Alexandr Gorbunov arrived at the ISS with two empty seats reserved for the Starliner duo. The replacement Crew-10 team reached the ISS on Sunday and made way for the return of Crew-9.

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have been stuck in space for more than nine months. They reached the ISS in June last year for a mission that was supposed to last about a week. However, they were left on the station as the Boeing Starliner spacecraft came back to Earth unmanned in September as NASA deemed it unsafe for the return flight.

While other astronauts spent more time at the ISS, almost none had to deal with so much uncertainty over their return. The duo transitioned from guests to full-fledged crew members at the ISS, conducting experiments and spacewalk. Sunita Williams set a record for the most time spent spacewalking by a female astronaut, accumulating 62 hours over nine spacewalks. She and her fellow astronauts, both were experienced with the space station. Williams also became the station commander three months into their stay and continued to hold the position until earlier this month.

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