Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have been on the International Space Station for 3 months. Although both the astronauts had to return in just 8 days, but it was not possible.
When NASA announced to bring Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth in February 2025, many questions started arising in everyone’s mind, because Williams and Wilmore would have to spend about 8 months in space.
This record is in the name of Astronaut Frank
But these two are not the only ones to spend such a long time on a single flight mission in the space station, rather this record is in the name of NASA astronaut Frank Rubio. Frank has spent more than a year in space in a single spaceflight. He holds the record of spending 371 consecutive days in space. Frank Rubio returned on 27 September 2023 after spending 371 days on the space station. He broke the record of NASA astronaut Mark Wande who has spent 355 consecutive days in space.
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will return by February next year after spending 8 months on the International Space Station. Despite this, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will not be able to break the record of staying in space for the longest number of days. Both astronauts will return after spending about 240 days continuously in space, so they can be at the seventh position in the list of astronauts who have stayed in space for the longest time.
Sunita Williams can make it to this list
Even if the days of different missions in space are added, the record of spending the most days on the ISS is held by Peggy Whitson, she has spent a total of 675 days on the space station in several missions. After this, Jeff Williams comes second, who has spent 534 days on the space station on different missions.
However, Sunita Williams has also spent 322 days in space in earlier missions and now when she returns after completing the Expedition-71/72 mission, she will have spent more than 560 days in space. In such a situation, she can come second in the list of astronauts who have spent the most time in space under different missions.
Why did an 8-day mission turn into 8 months?
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore went to the International Space Station on June 5 on Boeing’s Starliner aircraft. Both were to return 8 days later on June 13, but due to a technical fault in the spacecraft, the return mission had to be postponed repeatedly. NASA and Boeing officials conducted several flight tests on Starliner, but after studying the data, NASA considered it risky to bring back both the astronauts through Starliner.
NASA decided that it would include Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore in the Crew 9 mission and bring them back by February 2025. The Crew 9 mission will be sent to the ISS in a Dragon capsule built by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will be brought back through the Dragon capsule.
