The spacecraft bringing back stranded astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore has undocked from the International Space Station, starting their return journey after being stuck in space for over nine months. NASA said the Crew-9 undocked at 10:35 am (IST), sharing a video of the spacecraft detaching from the space station.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched the Dragon spacecraft atop its Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday to bring back the two astronauts after President Donald Trump accused the previous Biden administration of abandoning them.
They had gone to space station in June for an eight-day mission but were left stranded after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft suffered glitches.
The Dragon spacecraft carrying Ms Williams and three other astronauts will splash down off the Florida coast around 3:27 am (IST) on Wednesday after a 17-hour journey. NASA’s Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are the two others on the spacecraft.