Astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams have finally returned home after unexpected issues during the test of Boeing’s new Starliner spacecraft forced the two to dock aboard the International Space Station.

The Boeing Crew Flight Test launched on June 5, 2024, and was expected to last eight days, with a scheduled landing on June 14 in the American Southwest.  However, due to a thruster malfunction on the Starliner spacecraft, codnenamed Calypso, the two instead boarded the International Space Station as scheduled, but stayed due to the risks of returning to Earth aboard the Starliner, which was brought back to Earth uncrewed on September 7.  Later in September, Williams and Wilmore were added to the plans for SpaceX Crew-9’s return mission aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft, codenamed Freedom.  

After months of preparation, the two, joined by Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov, the two original members of Crew-9, have finally returned to Earth, landing in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, on March 18.

One NECC student, Matt Branscombe, told the Observer, “I’m grateful that we have strong Americans coming home to be with their families and communities”.  Another NECC student, Jasmine Dionne, said “They signed up for it and knew something like this might happen.  I’m glad that they’re home now, and they should be on leave to spend time with family”.

Now, Williams and Wilmore mist battle the hazards that come from such a long stay in space, such as loss of strength, potentially irreversible damage to vision, atrophy of the muscles, a significant risk of radiation sickness, and a higher risk of cancer within their lifetimes.

We at the Observer would like to issue our congratulations to Williams and Wilmore on their successful return, and would also like to wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors.