Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are back on Earth after spending nine unplanned months in space The pair waved and smiled as they emerged from the SpaceX Dragon, which splashed down off ... Why won't Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore return immediately? The two astronauts remain safe aboard the ISS, which is also called a permanent ‘home’ in space for scientists deployed for ... Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams , the U.S. astronauts left on the International Space Station last year by Boeing's troubled Starliner capsule, are on the up after returning to Earth in March, emerging from weeks of physical therapy to ramp up work with Boeing and various NASA programs. "Right now , we're just coming off of the rehab portion of our return," Wilmore, 62, told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. "Gravity stinks for a period, and that period varies for different people, but ... Sunita Lyn " Suni " Williams (née Pandya; born September 19, 1965) is an American astronaut and a retired U.S. Navy officer. Williams served aboard the International Space Station as a participant in Expedition 14, a flight engineer for Expedition 15 and Expedition 32, and commander of Expedition 33. A member of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, she became the first woman to fly on a flight test of an orbital spacecraft during the 2024 Boeing Crew Flight Test and had her stay extended by ...