Sunita returns to earth after 286 days

Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams has returned to Earth after an extended space mission that lasted 9 months.

Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore went to space on board the Boeing Starliner Calypso on June 5, 2024. They were meant to spend eight days on the International Space Station (ISS).

But as the spacecraft was approaching the station, its thrusters malfunctioned, and NASA ordered the astronauts to remain on the ISS while figuring out how to bring them back.

That lasted nine months, or 288 days, making Williams and Wilmore two of the longest-serving NASA astronauts in space on a single mission.

The ISS orbits at an altitude of 354km (220 miles), while the average distance to Mars from Earth is a staggering 225 million kilometres (140 million miles).

Astronaut Frank Rubio holds the record for NASA’s longest space mission, spending more than a year on the ISS.