Featured Image Credit: MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO / Contributor / Getty
After successfully undocking from the International Space Station this morning, we finally have an exact time that 'stranded' NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will land back on Earth after their nine month mission.
Technical delays left Williams and Wilmore 'stuck' on board the International Space Station (ISS) for 285 days in what was only supposed to be an 8 day venture.
Not only did the Boeing Starliner ship that they flew to the ISS in suffer issues, meaning that it had to return to Earth unmanned, but the SpaceX rocket that would then allow them to fly back home also fell victim to issues that seemed to persist until moments before takeoff.
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US President Donald Trump has made it a priority to bring the pair back home since returning to office in January, ordering SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk to 'go get' them both, and both have also insisted that the blame lies with the former Biden administration.
Regardless of these claims though the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket finally made it to the ISS on March 16, allowing the Crew-10 astronauts to undergo the necessary handover process with Williams and Wilmore, allowing them to begin their journey back home.
As reported by Al Jazeera, the Crew-10 Dragon ship finally departed from the International Space Station at 1:05 a.m. EST this morning, as shown in a livestream from NASA on YouTube.
Current estimates indicate that the ship will begin its deorbit burn at around 5:11 p.m. EST, and shortly after it will splash into the ocean off the coast of Florida at roughly 5:57 p.m. EST. (21:57 GMT)
It will then take about an hour for the crew - including both Williams and Wilmore alongside Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov - to be retrieved from the ocean, and the entire process will once again be livestreamed on YouTube, starting at 4:45 p.m. EST.
While the astronauts will understandably be desperate to return to their families, which is something they've made clear to be a priority for them, it's unfortunately going to be a challenging return to normal life after spending so much time in space.
They will be immediately stretchered off to a medical facility where they will spend six weeks in physical rehabilitation. This is due to the dangerous reduction in muscle mass and bone density that living for a lengthy period of time in low gravity causes, as your body - including your heart - has to work far less as it's not being constantly dragged down.
They will undergo a number of cancer related screenings as a precaution due to the work that Williams and Wilmore conducted surrounding ultrasounds and radiation, as they could be under significant risk.
