NASA reveals chance of seeing stranded astronauts' return to Earth after nine months in space

There's a chance you might be able to spot the SpaceX vessel transporting the stranded NASA astronauts home to safety today.

There will be no better sight for veteran NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita 'Suni' Williams today than Earth, as the pair are finally headed home. They've been trapped in space for more than nine months after their Boeing Starliner craft malfunctioned.

However, catching a glimpse of the SpaceX Crew Dragon on its homeward bound descent will certainly be one to remember, too.

The seasoned NASA astronauts, joined by two other astronauts, were strapped into the Crew Dragon spacecraft and departed from the International Space Station (ISS) at 1.05am ET on Tuesday (March 18).

It is due to splashdown just off the Gulf Cost near Tallahassee, Florida, at around 5.57pm.

NASA say the capsule 'will be difficult to spot in the daytime as it re-enters Earth's atmosphere', but you might be able to steal a glimpse as it soars over southern Mexico and over the Gulf of Mexico, at appoximately 5.49pm, before the splash landing.

Here's everything we know about the landing and why it has taken the crew so long to come back home.

How did the astronauts end up in space for nine months?

Wilmore and Williams set off on what they thought was going to be a simple eight-day round mission to the International Space Station (ISS). They left without a hiccup on June 5, 2024.

The pair were deployed to evaluate the Boeing Starliner Calypso's docking and operational capabilities on its first-ever crewed flight.

Yet as the Starliner approached the ISS, it experienced helium leaks and its thrusters failed, prompting to NASA to deem it too dangerous for Williams and Wilmore to return to Earth.

As a result, they've spent almost 300 days orbiting their home planet.

Why was there a delay with the rescue plan?

It's clearly not a simple task going to collect stranded, orbiting astronauts.

First of all, NASA doesn't like to leave the ISS unoccupied - with various crews continuously living at the station for the past 25 years.

So when Williams and Wilmore's spacecraft was deemed too risky to fly home, the pair formed Crew-9 in the regular crew rotation of the ISS, and have been carrying out science experiments and general maintenance ever since.

What this meant is that they've had to wait for another crew to arrive to replace them.

Crew-9 Dragon successfully landed and docked at the ISS in September, with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunobv aboard, in preperation to bring them home.

In August, NASA outlined plans to bring Wilmore and Williams back on a return mission in February in the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, but that hinged on Crew-10 taking over.

However, Crew-10 ran into trouble due to defective batteries, which delayed the schedule.

Then, as of Friday, four replacements - Crew-10 commander Anne McClain, pilot Nichole Ayers, cosmonaut Kirill Peskov and Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi - successfully landed, meaning the Crew-9 four can finally come home.

Why did Elon Musk and SpaceX say the pair weren't technically 'stranded'?

The issue has become somewhat of a political football with both President Donald Trump and his right-hand man, Elon Musk, claiming the astronauts were 'abandoned' by the Biden administration.

The SpaceX founder previously said: "They were left up there for political reasons, which is not good."

Musk continued: "Well, we don't want to be complacent, but we have brought astronauts back from the space station many times before, and always with success."

Also weighing in, Trump said that his predecessor Joe Biden was 'going to leave them in space'.

Technically, there is also a spacecraft attached to the ISS for astronauts to use and leave in case of an emergency.

What has been involved in the rescue mission and when will it return to Earth?

The SpaceX Dragon capsule undocked from the orbiting outpost in the early hours on Tuesday. During boarding, the astronauts checked their flight suits, took their seats and completed final checks in prep for their 17-hour descent homewards.

The process of bringing them home started even earlier than that, with hatch closure preparations beginning late on Monday night at around 10.45pm.

When it does splash down, crews will recover the capsule and help the astronauts exit onto a ship where the four will be flown to Houston, the hub of NASA's spaceflight operations.

However, the exact timing is subject to change, depending on the assessment of weather and sea conditions before its final de-orbit burn and re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

The coverage of the final descent, including its splashdown and crew recovery, is being broadcast on Nasa TV and a new streaming service, Nasa+.

Hague, the commander of departing Crew Dragon, said from the spacecraft before the descent: "Crew nine is going home. On behalf of crew nine, it was a privilege to call space home... to live and work... in cooperation for the benefit of humanity.

"To our colleagues and dear friends who remain on the station, we know the station is in great hands. We're excited to see what you guys are going to accomplish and we'll be waiting for you."