KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — After nine months stuck in space, the Boeing Starliner astronauts are finally returning home.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams said their goodbyes overnight before departing the International Space Station.
The astronauts are the crew for an infamous Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft flight test.
Several technical issues during launch and after docking at the ISS prompted NASA leaders to send the Starliner back empty while Williams and Wilmore waited for another option.
SpaceX was later tasked with altering its plans to provide Williams and Wilmore with a safe ride home aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft.
The Crew Dragon, with astronauts inside, undocked from the orbiting laboratory around 1 a.m. Tuesday.
They are now undergoing a series of maneuvers to deorbit for a splashdown landing off the coast of Florida.
The splashdown is scheduled for just before 6 p.m.
Channel 9 will have live coverage of the astronauts’ return on Eyewitness News.
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