As the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut Sunita Williams is set to return home after nine months on the International Space Station, Dinesh Rawal, Sunita Williams cousin brother in Gujarat, expressed his happiness and said that she is the pride of the nation.
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.
A crew of four will head to the ISS onboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for a six-month stay. The mission is being launched to bring back Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita Williams, Fox News report.
"Well, when they come back, I'll greet them. How about that? No, no, we're going to get them out. I've authorized Elon Musk to go and get them. And he's prepared to do so," Trump said.
NASA astronaut Sunita 'Suni' Williams surpassed a major milestone on January 30, 2025, when she broke the record for total spacewalking time held by former astronaut Peggy Whitson.