Sunita Williams return LIVE Updates: New crew to replace Butch Wilmore and others soon, 9-month expedition nears end

Sunita Williams return LIVE Updates: Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will be returning to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) after a months-long wait. A replacement crew comprising NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA’s Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos’ Kirill Peskov onboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:03 PM ET on March 14.

Catch all Sunita Williams return LIVE Updates here

“It is far easier to be enemies than it is to be friends, it’s easier to break partnerships and relationships than it is to build them,” McClain said from the Crew Dragon capsule minutes after reaching orbit during NASA live stream.

These replacement crew will officially become members of Expedition 72 after taking over duties and responsibilities from the departing members. Space X in a recent post on X confirmed Falcon 9 first stage booster landing and stated, “Landing confirmed, marking the 400th time a Falcon 9 first stage booster has landed.”

Ahead of her return, Sunita Williams formally transferred ISS command to Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, who is expected to oversee the station operations for the next six months. Notably, Crew-10 astronauts will reportedly arrive at ISS on Saturday, March 15, at 11:30 PM ET. Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are scheduled to leave the station on March 19 with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.