NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are set to return to Earth after an extended nine-month mission aboard the ISS, facilitated by the successful launch of SpaceX Crew-10. Originally part of a shorter Boeing Starliner test flight,

NASA schedules Crew-9 and Crew-10 overlap to allow Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams to brief the new crew on station operations before their departure.

The team, which includes NASA's Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan's Takuya Onishi, and Russia's Kirill Peskov, took off from Kennedy Space Center in a SpaceX capsule early this morning. They will arrive at the ISS tomorrow. This mission will pave the way for astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams's return after a nine-month stay in space.