Anytime an astronaut straps in to go to space they know that they are in for a unique experience. While NASA and all the teams that support space missions do everything they possibly can to ensure everything goes smoothly, that is not the case.

One big example of this is when astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams blasted off for a 10 day mission, which launched on June 5th, 2024 but were not able to return to Earth until March 14th, 2025 (9 months later!). Check out their timeline below, including some of the key events along the way.

June 5, 2024 – The First Ever Crewed Mission for the Boeing Starliner 

Boeing’s attempt to enter into the space exploration industry had plenty of problems, but they were ready to move forward with their new Starliner. It had completed lots of testing up to this point, but this was their first crewed mission. It launched Butch and Sunita into space safely.

June 6, 2024 – Docking with the ISS & Thruster Issues

While preparing to dock with the ISS, the team reported issues with five of the Starliner’s 28 thrusters. They were able to bring four of those five back online and successfully dock with the ISS on their second attempt.

June 18, 2024 – Delaying the Return

While it was believed that the Starliner would likely be able to return safely, the problem with the reaction-control system thrusters made it so NASA did not want to take the risk. This safety-first policy resulted in their return being scheduled for June 26, 2024. While working on the systems, however, additional concerns were discovered including a helium leak in the propulsion system, which pushed the return date even further.

July 2, 2024 – The 45-Day Limit

All space missions have planned dates in place as well as maximum duration lengths so that the teams are able to adjust schedules for things like weather or other problems. The Starliner was approved for a maximum mission length of 45-days. NASA reviewed the current status of the Starliner and approved it for the extended mission so they could fully test and troubleshoot the thruster issues and helium leaks. At this point, NASA pushed the return date out to later in the summer.

July, 2024 – Starliner Thruster Tests

After this ten day mission hit its 55 day mark, the engineers at NASA and Boeing were ready to test the Starliner’s RCS thruster system. They ran the thrusters at ISS and gathered data from its performance to evaluate next steps.

August 24, 2024 – The Starliner Set to Return Home Without The Astronauts 

After reviewing the data from the tests, NASA and Boeing decided that the safest option was to have the Starliner return to Earth unmanned. The astronauts would now have to stay on the ISSU until February, 2025, waiting for available room on the SpaceX Crew-9 mission that was scheduled.

August 30, 2024 – Adjusting Future Missions

NASA updated the SpaceX Crew-9 Mission to remove two astronauts so that there would be room on the craft to bring the stranded astronauts home. Mission commander Zena Cardman and mission specialist Stephanie Wilson were cut from the mission.

September 7, 2024 – The Starliner Safely Returns to Earth

The capsule returned to the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico where ongoing tests and evaluations are performed. It landed unmanned without any issues.

September 22, 2024 – Suni Williams Takes Command

Throughout the process up to this point, Russian cosmonaut Olog Kononenko had been in command of the ISS. When his mission ended on September 22, 2024, Suni Williams became the commander.

September 28, 2024 – Crew-9 Launches

A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule launched with two astronauts and two empty seats to the ISS. This was the capsule that was planned to be used to bring Suni and Butch home.

December 17, 2024 – More Delays

Butch and Suni could not come home until additional astronauts came up, which was supposed to happen on the new Crew-10 capsule from SpaceX. The Crew-10 capsule had not yet flown and delays in getting it fully certified for manned flight resulted in NASA pushing the estimated return of Butch and Suni to March, 2025.

January 30, 2025 – A Record Breaking Spacewalk

Suni Williams took part in a 5.5 hour spacewalk where she removed a radio communications unit that was not working. This put her total time on spacewalks to 62 hours and 6 minutes, which is the most time by any woman in history.

February 11, 2025 – Finally Some Good News

NASA announced a change in plans, which would allow Butch and Suni to come home sooner than expected. They decided that the flight-proven Crew Dragon would take the mission rather than waiting for the new system to be fully completed.

March 12, 2025 – One More Delay

The mission that was going to bring them home was first scheduled on March 12, 2025 but the launch had to be aborted. NASA’s website reported:

“NASA and SpaceX have scrubbed Wednesday’s launch attempt of the agency’s Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station due to a hydraulic system issue with a ground support clamp arm for the Falcon 9 rocket at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.”

March 14, 2025 – Successful Launch 

The mission was pushed off until March 14th when the launch occurred without a problem, which cleared the way for the Crew-9 Dragon to head home.

March 18, 2025 – Back to Earth

After their 10 day mission dragged on for more than 9 months, Butch and Suni safely splashed down off the Florida coast at 5:57PM on March 18, 2025.

You can watch their decent back to Earth here:

Wow, what a mission.

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