Guwahati, March 17 -- After being stranded for over nine months on the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are set to return to Earth on Tuesday, March 19.

NASA confirmed that they will splash down off the Florida coast at around 5:57 PM EDT (3:30 AM IST, March 20) aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.

The duo had been aboard the ISS since June 2024 after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft, intended for a short test mission, suffered propulsion issues, making it unfit for their return.

Their extended stay exceeded the usual six-month astronaut rotation but fell short of records set by NASA astronaut Frank Rubio (371 days) and Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov (437 days).

NASA stated that ...