The American astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams managed to return to Earth after being stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) since last spring. Their return comes after 285 days in space, a period much longer than planned.
This Tuesday, both left the ISS aboard a SpaceX spacecraft, joined by two other astronauts. NASA reported that the duration of the journey to Earth would be approximately 19 hours.
Technical problems delayed their return
Initially, Wilmore and Williams were supposed to stay on the ISS for just over a week, but on June 6 their mission was complicated due to failures in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft's thrusters and helium leaks. Faced with this situation, NASA decided to send the vehicle back to Earth without a crew.
