NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Butch Wilmore are flying home after a nine-month stay on the International Space Station. Flying on a SpaceX Dragon capsule, the astronauts are expected to splash down Tuesday evening.
SpaceX launch scheduled for Wednesday will carry replacement crew for astronauts who have been stuck on the International Space Station since their troubled Starliner mission.
The NASA astronauts are now scheduled to return from the International Space Station in late March aboard a Dragon capsule, nearly nine months after they blasted off.
The Starship program promises to help SpaceX, which has launched an unprecedented number of rockets, remain ahead of its rivals for government business.
The risky maneuver is a step toward SpaceX’s goal of full reusability for Starship, which is the world’s most powerful rocket, and is key to NASA’s plans to return to the moon.