NASA astronauts depart in SpaceX shuttle after prolonged stay aboard the ISS

Investing.com-- NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore departed from the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX shuttle on Tuesday, ending a nine-month stay in space after their Boeing (NYSE:BA) Starliner craft malfunctioned. 

Williams and Wilmore, along with peer Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov undocked from the ISS aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, according to NASA’s website. They are expected to splashdown by 05:57 PM ET off the coast of Florida. 

Williams and Wilmore had spent more than nine months aboard the ISS, after the Boeing Starliner craft that carried them to the station malfunctioned, making it unfit to return them to Earth. Their initial mission was scheduled to last only eight days. 

After more than nine months aboard the ISS, the duo were scheduled to return on SpaceX’s Crew 9 mission in March. The mission’s launch last week was delayed due to technical difficulties, before successfully taking off over the weekend. 

U.S. President Donald Trump had pressured Elon Musk’s SpaceX and NASA to bring forward the mission to bring Williams and Wilmore home. 

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