Holiday Ayo - After being trapped for more than nine months on the International Space Station (ISS), two United States (US) astronauts, Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Suni Williams, are scheduled to return to Earth on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, local time. 

According to NASA, their return will use the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule which arrived at the ISS on Sunday morning. 

Wilmore and Williams were originally only scheduled to make a short trip on a Boeing Starliner test mission. 

However, damage to the spacecraft's propulsion system made it deemed unfit to bring them back to Earth, causing the two astronauts to be stuck in space longer than planned.

“NASA has advanced the landing schedule in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Florida, to Tuesday at 17:57 local time due to favorable weather forecasts," NASA said in an official statement on Sunday night. Reporting from The Guardian, Monday, March 17, 2025, previously, the landing was planned no earlier than Wednesday.

Wilmore and Williams will return with two other crew members, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

Preparations for the capsule’s hatch closure are scheduled to begin Monday night and will be broadcast live by NASA.

The return marks the end of a much longer-than-planned stay. What was supposed to be a few days of space travel turned into nine months because of a technical failure on the Boeing Starliner.

Typically, astronauts spend about six months aboard the ISS. However, Wilmore and Williams’ time in space is still below the record of 371 days in space set by NASA astronaut Frank Rubio in 2023. 

The world record for the longest time in space is held by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent 437 days aboard the Mir space station. 

The extended spacewalk presented challenges for the two astronauts, especially since they did not bring enough supplies for that length of time. 

NASA confirmed that they had to receive additional supplies of clothing and personal equipment while on the ISS. 

The delay gained public attention because of its unexpected nature and the impact it had on the personal lives of astronauts who were separated from their families for so long. 

Despite the technical challenges and psychological challenges of the long isolation, NASA assured that the entire crew was in good condition and ready to return to Earth after a journey that far exceeded its planned duration.