NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and her colleague Butch Wilmore, who have been stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) since June due to technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, are finally set to return to Earth. Their long-awaited return became possible after SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission successfully docked at the ISS on Sunday, March 16. The Dragon capsule, which took off from Texas on Friday, carried four new astronauts—Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers from NASA, Takuya Onishi from Japan’s JAXA, and Kirill Peskov from Russia’s Roscosmos—who will spend the next few days adjusting to life aboard the ISS.

NASA had originally planned for Williams and Wilmore to return months ago, but recurring problems with their spacecraft, including the absence of an emergency escape pod, forced repeated delays. The mission to bring them back was initially tied to Crew-9’s arrival in August, but safety concerns prevented their departure. With Crew-10 now in place, both astronauts will return to Earth alongside the outgoing Crew-9 members in the coming days. According to SpaceX founder Elon Musk, the return flight is now being finalized, and NASA officials are closely monitoring the process to ensure a safe journey home.

The return timeline was reportedly accelerated after US President Donald Trump urged Musk to prioritize bringing the astronauts back earlier than the previously scheduled date at the end of March. The mission had already faced delays due to technical challenges, including an issue with a ground support clamp arm on the rocket. However, with those problems now resolved, Williams and Wilmore’s nearly year-long stay in space is finally coming to an end.