SpaceX’s plan to rescue the two astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, from the International Space Station (ISS) involves a carefully coordinated mission that has been in progress as of March 17, 2025. Here’s how it unfolded and what the plan entails based on the latest developments:
The astronauts launched to the ISS in June 2024 aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft for what was intended to be an eight-day mission. However, technical issues—specifically helium leaks and thruster failures—rendered the Starliner unsafe for their return. After months of evaluation, NASA decided in September 2024 to return the Starliner to Earth uncrewed and instead rely on SpaceX to bring Williams and Wilmore home.
SpaceX executed this rescue through its Crew-10 mission, which launched on March 14, 2025, at 7:03 p.m. EDT from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission utilized a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Crew Dragon spacecraft with four astronauts: NASA’s Anne McClain (commander) and Nichole Ayers (pilot), Japan’s Takuya Onishi, and Russia’s Kirill Peskov. After a 28-hour journey, the Crew Dragon docked with the ISS on March 16, 2025, at 12:04 a.m. ET, while the station was approximately 260 miles above the Atlantic Ocean.
The Crew-10 team is replacing the Crew-9 astronauts already on the ISS, which includes Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov, who arrived in September 2024 with two empty seats reserved for Williams and Wilmore on their return trip. Following a brief handover period—typically a few days for training and orientation—the Crew-9 Dragon spacecraft, carrying Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore, is scheduled to undock from the ISS no earlier than March 19, 2025, weather permitting. The spacecraft will then perform a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of Florida, concluding the astronauts’ unexpectedly extended nine-month stay in orbit.
This plan leverages SpaceX’s proven Crew Dragon system, which has successfully conducted multiple crewed missions to the ISS since 2020. The mission faced minor delays due to a hydraulic issue with ground equipment and weather concerns, but these were resolved before the successful launch. NASA and SpaceX are currently monitoring splashdown conditions to finalize the exact return date, ensuring a safe reentry for the four astronauts.