The astronauts disembarked the capsule on stretchers, as is customary, as per CNN. This is a common precaution SpaceX always takes when astronauts return from months-long journeys to space.
A CORE -- a "crew operations resource engineer" -- at SpaceX's headquarters in California confirmed the target touchdown time remains on track for 5:57 pm (ET), as per CNN.
As NASA astronaut Sunita Williams embarks on her journey back to Earth after more than nine months aboard the International Space Station (ISS), her extended family in Gujarat is offering prayers for her safe return.
NASA posted the development on X, "They're on their way! Crew 9 undocked from the Space Station at 1.05 am ET (0505 UTC). Reentry and splashdown coverage begin on X, YouTube, and NASA+ at 4.45 pm ET (2145 UTC) this evening."
Wilmore, Williams and two other astronauts are poised to undock from the ISS at 10:30 am on Wednesday and are scheduled to splash down in the Gulf of America at 3:30 am on Thursday.
Williams and Wilmore are scheduled to travel back to Earth alongside Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Wilmore and Williams have been stranded on the ISS for nine months after reaching there in June last year. They were supposed to stay there for about a week. The astronauts were transported from Earth to the ISS aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams are set to return to Earth after over nine months aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Nilesh M. Desai of SAC explains that crew missions, unlike cargo missions, bring astronauts back to Earth.
SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov docked with International Space Station.