Washington [US], March 19: Two US astronauts have begun their journey back to Earth after being stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) for more than nine months due to a technical fault with their spacecraft.
The two astronauts, Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, left the ISS on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, with live footage from US space agency NASA showing their departure. Accompanied by US astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexandr Gorbunov, they were expected to splash down off Florida's coast around 6pm (2200 GMT) on Tuesday.
Williams and Wilmore arrived at the ISS at the beginning of June on the first manned test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. They were only meant to stay in space for a week, but numerous technical problems with the craft left them stranded. In September, Hague and Gorbunov flew to the space station aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon, leaving vacant seats for Williams and Wilmore. Williams, 59, and Wilmore, 62, had previously been in space several times and are considered experienced astronauts. (DPA)
Source: Qatar Tribune
