New Delhi, March 18 -- NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have finally begun their journey home after spending over nine months aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Their extended stay was the result of technical failures in Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, which was originally intended to return them after just an eight-day mission.

Crew-9's mission marked the first crewed test flight of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner under NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

Boeing's Starliner program had already faced years of delays and cost overruns before Williams and Wilmore's June 2024 launch. The spacecraft's first uncrewed test flight in 2019 failed, requiring a second test flight in 2022 before it was deemed safe for human trans...