The twin Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977 with the goal of exploring the outer solar system planets and their moons. Nearly 50 years later, they’re still limping along in interstellar space, long after their primary mission ended. The Curiosity rover is still exploring Mars, currently on its fourth extended mission, more than a decade after its original mission timeline elapsed. NASA is famous for extended missions, but they don’t usually involve people.
In June of 2024, astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore arrived at the International Space Station (ISS), aboard Boeing’s experimental Starliner spacecraft. The mission’s goal was to kick the proverbial tires and get Starliner ready to join NASA’s crewed mission rotation. What was supposed to be a week-long mission turned into nearly a year. Now, finally, Williams and Wilmore are coming home.
Why astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were stuck on the International Space Station for nine months
No one likes unplanned overtime at work, but at least the views from the ISS are spectacular. As veteran NASA astronauts, Williams and Wilmore are no strangers to time in space, and as retired test pilots, they’re well acquainted with things going wrong.
Starliner experienced a couple of problems upon its arrival to the ISS. Helium leaks were discovered and thrusters failed during docking. Williams and Wilmore got to the station just fine, but it was unclear if Starliner could safely carry the duo home.
Initially, Williams and Wilmore remained aboard the station to provide time for an investigation and a potential fix. After about three months, Starliner was undocked from the station and sent home without her crew. Without their ship, Williams and Wilmore didn’t have a ride home, and with the tightly planned logistics of space travel, setting up a replacement proved difficult.
NASA adjusted crew rotations, bumping two other astronauts from SpaceX’s Crew-9 flight to leave room. The original plan was for the duo to return in February, but scheduling conflicts and other delays pushed the return to the early hours of March 18, 2025.
During the roughly nine-month mission, Williams assumed command of the space station and remained in that post from September 22, 2024, until March 7, 2025. It was her second time serving as commander of the International Space Station. Along the way, Williams also set the record for the most cumulative time spent spacewalking by a female astronaut.
Their ride home arrived in the form of a Dragon capsule and a replacement crew. Wilmore and Williams spent their final day on the station doing standard maintenance and inspections, before packing up and getting sealed inside the capsule.
NASA astronauts stranded on ISS finally coming home
Like we see in SYFY's The Ark, space travel is complicated. It's also meticulously planned, but delays do happen sometimes. In 2023, astronaut Frank Rubio spent 371 continuous days in space, setting the record for the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut. Rubio launched into orbit in September 2022 for what was supposed to be a six-month mission. He ended up staying for more than a year after a coolant leak in the spacecraft delayed his return. In contrast to Williams and Wilmore, Rubio’s extended flight was not the subject of so much speculation and politicization.
Today, shortly after 1:00 a.m. ET, Williams and Wilmore finally departed from the ISS aboard a Dragon capsule, along with two other space travelers: flight commander Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. They’ve been replaced aboard the station by ASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
At the time of writing, the Dragon capsule is orbiting the Earth in advance of its return to the surface. The spacecraft is scheduled for splashdown off the coast of Florida just after 6:00 p.m. ET tonight, provided weather conditions are favorable. Once they’re planet-side, they’ll be flown to crew quarters at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas for a few days of health checks. Then, finally, they’ll be able to go home for real, after 286 days in space.
Looking for another extended space mission? Catch up with the first two seasons of SYFY's The Ark, streaming now on Peacock, before Season 3 drops in 2026.