The duo are expected to splash down off the coast of Florida Tuesday just before 5 p.m. CDT. Their high-profile mission thrust a spotlight on Boeing's ongoing technical challenges, and, more recently, has turned political after President Donald Trump claimed the astronauts were "abandoned" on the space station.
Here's what to know about the astronauts, their mission and their return home:
How did they get to space?
Wilmore and Williams were the first people to fly in Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. They launched from Florida on June 5 and docked with the International Space Station the following day.
The astronauts had helped Boeing design and test their spacecraft. Williams had been working intensively on Starliner since 2015, and Wilmore joined her in 2018.
They both graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School before becoming astronauts, and they'd previously flown on the NASA space shuttle and the Russian Soyuz capsule.
Why did they spend nine months in space?
The astronauts expected to spend roughly one week on the space station. But the Starliner spacecraft has long been plagued with technical issues and concerns. Its first mission with astronauts, NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test, was no exception. It experienced thruster issues and helium leaks on the way to the station.
It was the thruster issues that prompted NASA to send the Boeing spacecraft home without the astronauts. The agency couldn't be sure the spacecraft was safe (it landed gently in New Mexico). Wilmore and Williams were then added to a six-month mission that would soon begin on the International Space Station.
These rotational missions typically begin when four people launch into space. But for this mission, NASA's SpaceX Crew-9, just two people were sent toward the station. Wilmore and Williams would complete the cadre.
The members of Crew-9 were always expected to stay on the station until members for the next six-month mission, NASA's SpaceX Crew-10, arrived to relieve them. The Crew-10 mission was initially slated to launch in February. But that liftoff was delayed to late March after SpaceX needed more time to get a new Dragon spacecraft online for the Crew-10 mission.
Ultimately, the Crew-10 launch was moved up to mid-March, departing Friday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, when NASA and SpaceX decided to use an older, previously flown Dragon for the mission.
NASA and SpaceX are planning to bring home Wilmore and Williams — along with their crewmates NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov — Tuesday evening ahead of bad weather later this week that could make the seas too rough for the capsule to land.
How will they get home?
Wilmore and Williams flew to space in a Boeing Starliner capsule, but they will return to Earth in a SpaceX Dragon capsule. This Dragon capsule has been docked to the space station since their Crew-9 crewmates, Hague and Gorbunov, reached the station in September.
Boeing and SpaceX are competitors, as the companies were both awarded contracts in 2014 to build commercial vehicles that would ferry crew members to and from the International Space Station. SpaceX has been flying crew members since 2020. It's unclear what the future holds for Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, though the agency has continued to show public support for the company.
The members of Crew-9 are expected to land in the Gulf of Mexico at 4:57 p.m. CDT. If all goes well, they'll be checked out by medical personnel and then quickly flown back to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. They will remain here for several days before NASA flight surgeons send them home.
What did Trump say about the astronauts?
Trump brought politics into the saga on Jan. 28 when he posted on Truth Social, saying he had asked SpaceX founder Elon Musk to go get the astronauts who were "virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration."
Musk — who contributed financially to Trump's presidential campaign and has been allowed to take a sledgehammer to the federal government as co-lead of the Department of Government Efficiency — has said SpaceX offered to take the astronauts home sooner but the Biden Administration refused.
During a recent news conference, Wilmore said the crew didn't know if there were — or were not — talks between Musk and the Biden Administration. But he said he believes Musk and that "what he says is absolutely factual."
What did the astronauts do during their nine months onboard the station? And did they have enough food and clothes?
Wilmore and Williams have been busy conducting science, helping maintain the space station and completing spacewalks.
Williams now holds the record for total spacewalking time by a female astronaut: 62 hours and six minutes. She beat Peggy Whitson, who previously held the record and still has the most overall spacewalks by a female astronaut (Whitson has completed 10 spacewalks and Williams has completed nine).
The duo received fresh clothes from visiting spacecraft. There's always been plenty to eat. NASA has repeatedly said the astronauts were safe and healthy, and it pushed back against rumors that Williams was too thin or losing weight.
How does nine months compare to the longest single spaceflight mission?
If they return to Earth Tuesday, Wilmore and Williams will have logged 286 days in space. That's a long time, but it's not a record.
The world record goes to cosmonaut Valery Polyakov who spent 437 consecutive days in space, according to the Associated Press. His mission began Jan. 8, 1994.
NASA's record is held by Frank Rubio who spent 371 days in space. And like Wilmore and Williams, Rubio did not expect to spend that much time circling the Earth.
Rubio's six-month mission was extended after a micrometeoroid damaged the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that carried him to the International Space Station. Russia launched an empty replacement vehicle for Rubio and his crewmates, but the trio extended their stay as Russia prepared another spacecraft to launch their replacement crew.
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