NASA’s SUNITA WILLIAMS formally transferred command of the ISS to the Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, days before her departure for Earth. The historic event highlighted mutual cooperation between Roscosmos and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Notably, the modification comes ahead of Williams’s scheduled plan to board the SpaceX Dragon in a bid to return to Earth after nine months.

Speaking at the command handover ceremony, Williams thanked everyone who assisted her with the mission, including trainers, friends, family and control centers. The Indian-American astronauts leadership has been crucial to keeping the station running during her tenure. As per reports, she said We will miss you as she handed over the command to Ovchinin.

Williams’ leadership ensured seamless operations with Crew-10 en route, demonstrating the continued international cooperation on board the space station. With the two space agencies taking turns in charge, this change of command marks a major shift in the way the station operates.

Now, Williams is preparing to return to the Earth with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, and others.

The SpaceX Crew-10 mission, which is scheduled to launch on March 12 and 13, will determine when they depart from space. Williams will head out with her fellow crew members on March 19 following a week-long handover procedure with Crew-10.

Crew-10 crew

The team of Crew-10 includes NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi. Ovchinin will remain in orbit until the middle of April, collaborating with NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit and Roscosmos Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner.

Prior to this, on June 5, 2024, Williams and Butch Wilmore had set out on their voyage aboard Boeing’s Starliner spaceship, which was originally planned to last eight days. However, their return was delayed due to technical issues. The 59-year-old Williams already achieved space exploration milestones. Sunita Williams had also stepped out for spacewalk after seven months in orbit. She has set a new record of 62 hours and 6 minutes of spacewalking time in the woman category in January of this year.

Sunita and Butch Wilmore, NASA’s two stranded astronauts, will soon return to Earth after spending nine months in space. However, they will not be able to check out until their successors arrive at the ISS next week.

Ahead of their expected return to Earth, the duo addressed a press conference, where Williams rejected SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s recent suggestion that the International Space Station (ISS) should be retired early, rather than at the end of 2030, as currently planned.

She pointed out that the orbiting lab was conducting a lot of scientific research. This place is ticking. It’s just really amazing, so I would say we’re actually in our prime right now, she asserted. I would think that right now is probably not the right time to say quit, call it quits.

Williams stated that she is eager to see her Labrador retrievers again. She revealed that the most difficult aspect of the unplanned extended stay was the wait to go back home and see their family.

It’s been a roller coaster for them, probably a little bit more so than for us, she continued. Emphasizing on the importance of their mission, Williams said, We’re just just doing what we do every day, and every day is interesting because we’re up in space and it’s a lot of fun.

Sunita Williams and Wilmore also reiterate that Politics played no role in delayed return, express ‘utmost respect’ for Trump, Musk. The two astronauts who made Boeing Starliner’s initial crewed flight test in June have now scheduled to return to Earth after their much-awaited return. They will be leaving the International Space Station (ISS) days after the landing of SpaceX’s next Crew-10 mission.

Crew-10, which has four astronauts on board, will launch next week and will take the place of the Crew-9 team that is currently on the ISS. This will allow Williams and Wilmore to leave with Crew-9, completing their extended mission. Their return is not simultaneous with the arrival of Crew-10, though, as NASA still needs to finalize the exact timeline for their departure, as per a report.

The Boeing’s Starliner

Williams and Wilmore first launched in June on Boeing’s Starliner which was initially intended to be a 10-day stay at the ISS, but technical issues necessitated an extension. NASA detected several helium leaks and a problem with Starliner’s propulsion system that led to a reevaluation of the return approach. Instead of returning the astronauts on board Starliner, NASA chose a different plana vacant autonomous return of the spacecraft to New Mexico in September. This was done to protect the safety of the astronauts as engineers continued to work on Starliner’s technical issues.

NASA developed a new plan in August, which established that Williams and Wilmore would ride back in a SpaceX Dragon capsule rather than Starliner. The particular Dragon spacecraft that would bring them back landed at the ISS in late September as part of the Crew-9 mission.

Unlike earlier NASA Commercial Crew missions, Crew-9 came in with just two astronautsNASA’s Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. That way, SpaceX’s Dragon can maintain two open slots, waiting for Williams and Wilmore to take them back home when the timing of their return is the same.

The Crew-10 mission has to reach the ISS successfully prior to returning Williams and Wilmore home. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will be launching the Crew-10 crew at 7:48 p.m. EST on March 12 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA has authenticated live coverage of both the launch and docking procedure, which is anticipated to occur early the following morning. The Crew-10 mission had initially been scheduled for February but underwent several schedule changes.

NASA initially postponed the launch to late March to provide extra preparation time for a new Dragon capsule. The decision was subsequently changed, however, to utilize the already flown Dragon spacecraft, Endurance, enabling an earlier mid-March launch.

After Crew-10 reaches the ISS, there will be a transition phase before Crew-9, Williams, and Wilmore leave. NASA has not released an official date on their return yet but announcements are likely in the next few days. In an earlier release, Wilmore indicated that their return journey could be around March 19. NASA has not, however, given the go-ahead for this schedule, and the details are expected to unfold as the Crew-10 mission continues.

The Dragon capsule carrying the four-member Crew-10 is scheduled to launch as early as March 12 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Boeing Starliner capsule has a diameter of 15 feet, making it slightly wider than SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft.