Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore Return After 286 Days in Space
Why in the news
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams came home on 18 March 2025, ending a mission that was meant to be short but stretched to 286 days.
Key facts
- Return craft: SpaceX Crew Dragon, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida.
- Launch: Boeing’s Starliner on 5 June 2024; technical failures sent Starliner back early without them.
- Travelled 121 million miles over 4,576 orbits.
- Williams logged 62 hours of spacewalks across nine missions, the most by a woman, and commanded the ISS for part of the stay.
Mission snapshot
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Duration | 286 days |
| Outbound vehicle | Boeing Starliner |
| Return vehicle | SpaceX Crew Dragon |
| Station | International Space Station (ISS) |
Challenges
- Spacecraft readiness issues delayed the homecoming by months.
- In January, former President Donald Trump pressed SpaceX to speed things up.
- The crew did experiments, repairs and spacewalks while on board.
Exam angle
- After splashdown: medical checks, then flight to Houston for observation by NASA flight surgeons.
- Record: most spacewalking hours by a female astronaut.