NASA's Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore set for splashdown on Wednesday morning

National Aeronautics and Space Administrations NASA two stuck astronauts headed back to Earth with SpaceX on Tuesday to close out a dramatic marathon mission that began with a bungled Boeing test flight more than nine months agoButch Wilmore and Suni Williams bid farewell to the International Space Station their home since last spring departing aboard a SpaceX capsule alongside two other astronautsThe capsule undocked in the wee hours and aimed for a splashdown off the Florida coast by early evening weather permittingThe two expected to be gone just a week or so after launching on Boeings new Starliner crew capsule on June 5 So many problems cropped up on the way to the space station that NASA eventually sent Starliner back empty and transferred the test pilots to SpaceX pushing their homecoming into February Then SpaceX capsule issues added another months delaySundays arrival of their relief crew meant Wilmore and Williams could finally leave NASA cut them loose a little early given the iffy weather forecast later this weekThey checked out with NASAs Nick Hague and Russias Alexander Gorbunov who arrived in their own SpaceX capsule last fall with two empty seats reserved for the Starliner duoWell miss you but have a great journey home NASAs Anne McClain called out from the space station as the capsule pulled away 260 miles 418 kilometers above the PacificTheir plight captured the worlds attention giving new meaning to the phrase stuck at workWhile other astronauts had logged longer spaceflights over the decades none had to deal with so much uncertainty or see the length of their mission expand by so muchSunita Williams and Butch Wilmore quickly transitioned from guests to fullfledged station crew members conducting experiments fixing equipment and even spacewalking togetherWith 62 hours over nine spacewalks Williams set a new record the most time spent spacewalking over a career among female astronautsBoth had lived on the orbiting lab before and knew the ropes and brushed up on their station training before rocketing away Williams became the stations commander three months into their stay and held the post until earlier this monthTheir mission took an unexpected twist in late January when President Donald Trump asked SpaceX founder Elon Musk to accelerate the astronauts return and blamed the delay on the Biden administrationThe replacement crews brand new SpaceX capsule still wasnt ready to fly so SpaceX subbed it with a used one hurrying things along by at least a few weeksEven in the middle of the political storm Wilmore and Williams continued to maintain an even keel at public appearances from orbit casting no blame and insisting they supported NASAs decisions from the startNASA hired SpaceX and Boeing after the shuttle program ended in order to have two competing US companies for transporting astronauts to and from the space station until its abandoned in 2030 and steered to a fiery reentryBy then it will have been up there more than three decades the plan is to replace it with privately run stations so NASA can focus on moon and Mars expeditionsBoth retired Navy captains Wilmore and Williams stressed they didnt mind spending more time in space iquest a prolonged deployment reminiscent of their military days But they acknowledged it was tough on their familiesButch Wilmore 62 missed most of his younger daughters senior year of high school his older daughter is in college Sunita Williams 59 had to settle for internet calls from space to her mother Theyll have to wait until theyre off the SpaceX recovery ship and flown to Houston before the longawaited reunion with their loved onesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever