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After a deliberate eight day mission to the ISS that launched in June 2024, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams splashed down close to Florida over 9 months in a while March 18, 2025.
The 2 astronauts missed household occasions, birthdays, and Christmas whereas engineers tried to find out whether or not Boeing’s Starliner capsule can be protected to return with the crew of two or, as they later determined, to combine Butch and Suni into the Crew-9 mission and return again on a SpaceX Crew Dragon.
Many within the media used the time period “stranded” to explain the pair whereas they lived and labored on the ISS as a part of Expedition 72. Nevertheless, Butch and Suni weren’t the one astronauts to be coined with that time period.
Although Butch and Suni might have appeared “stranded,” it’s essential to notice that any astronaut or cosmonaut who flies to the Worldwide House Station (ISS) will need to have a car to return dwelling in if one thing have been to go flawed. So, whereas the crew member’s authentic trip won’t have been usable or prepared, there may be all the time an emergency plan in place and all the time a trip dwelling out there in a worst-case evacuation situation.
Mark Vande Hei
Mark Vande Hei is a spaceflight veteran. Becoming a member of NASA in 2009, he first flew aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket as a part of the Expedition 53/54 crew in 2017. He spent slightly below 5 months aboard the orbiting laboratory, together with conducting a spacewalk, earlier than returning in early 2018.
On April 9, 2021, Vande Hei, together with cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on the MS-18 mission — a mission that may see Vande Hei set the document for the longest single American spaceflight (on the time).
Whereas Mark was coaching for his deliberate six-month mission, talks have been underway in Russia as director Klim Shipenko had wished to movie a film aboard the ISS, the primary fiction movie shot in area. Shipenko partnered with Roscosmos, the manufacturing firm Yellow Black and White, and state-controlled tv community Channel One to make “Vyzov,” or “The Problem” in English.
Within the movie, Yulia Perseslid, who will not be a cosmonaut however an actress who auditioned for the position and took part in rigorous cosmonaut coaching in Star Metropolis, Russia, performs a thoracic surgeon who’s launched on an emergency mission to avoid wasting the lifetime of an ailing cosmonaut.
Mark Vande Hei works on the ISS. (Credit score: NASA)
To get Yulia and the director to the area station, they’d fly aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule, and the Soyuz MS-19 car can be able to launch once they deliberate to movie in October 2021. So, as an alternative of flying a crew to exchange Pyotr and Mark, the car launched with Commander Anton Shkaplerov, the actress, and the director. As soon as in area, Anton would turn out to be part of the lively ISS expedition, permitting Oleg to return dwelling after his six-month keep.
With no trip dwelling, that meant Mark must look ahead to the subsequent crew rotation Soyuz, which was one other six months from being prepared. That then doubled his keep aboard the station to 355 whole days.
“Truthfully, it’s thrilling. I believe all astronauts are explorers at coronary heart, and having the chance to contribute to furthering exploration is a superb alternative. My household’s been braced for this. I’ve been braced for this. It’s one thing that we anticipated, and actually, there’s a way of novelty to it for me. It’s a brand new expertise, and I’m trying ahead to understanding the way it feels to do one thing like this,” Vande Hei defined.
Frank Rubio
Frank Rubio was assigned to fly aboard the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft and spend six months in area as a part of the Expedition 67/68 crew. Nevertheless, that six months would ultimately flip into the longest single spaceflight by an American, beating Mark’s document and a document that also holds as of this publication.
Rubio, Sergey Prokopyev, and Dmitry Petelin launched on Sept. 21, 2022, from Baikonur in Kazakhstan. The crew docked as anticipated, and their mission proceeded as anticipated till December fifteenth, when particles have been seen emitting from the Soyuz spacecraft. Knowledge from a number of strain sensors within the cooling loop confirmed low readings.
Suspected coolant is seen leaking from the instrument and propulsion module aboard Soyuz MS-22. (Credit score: NASA)
With all the coolant vented out into area, engineers fearful crews might see temperatures rise to over 40 levels Celsius throughout reentry. In a press release, Roscosmos reported {that a} strike from a micrometeoroid had led to the leak, though the validity of this conclusion has been debated.
The choice was made to ship the MS-22 spacecraft dwelling with out its crew and launch the MS-23 spacecraft empty. The broken Soyuz carried out an accelerated deorbit, finishing the deorbit and reentry course of in 55 minutes in comparison with the standard two and a half hours, and made it again in a single piece.
For the primary time in historical past, NASA eliminated a Soyuz seat liner, a particular mildew made to the form of every particular person cosmonaut/astronaut to ease the a great deal of gravity on crews after being weightless, and positioned it inside a Crew Dragon. The plan was just like Butch and Suni’s: within the occasion of an on-orbit emergency, Frank would transfer to Crew Dragon and trip dwelling with the Crew-5 astronauts.
In accordance with NASA, the temperatures contained in the MS-22 Soyuz have been certainly very excessive, however not as excessive as anticipated. As a result of MS-22 and MS-23 Soyuz change, Frank would spend almost one yr in area. As of publication, he nonetheless holds the document for the longest single spaceflight by an American with 371 consecutive days in area, lastly returning dwelling along with his fellow MS-22 cosmonauts on Sept. 27, 2023.
NASA astronaut and U.S. Military Lt. Col. Frank Rubio smiling and waving after the Soyuz MS-23 touchdown in Kazakhstan. (Credit score: Invoice Ingalls/NASA)
Expedition 6
NASA astronauts Ken Bowersox, Don Thomas, and Russian cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin have been making ready to launch aboard the House Shuttle Endeavour on STS-113 when their long-duration mission to the ISS encountered its first situation. Thomas needed to be faraway from the mission attributable to medical considerations, which meant his backup, Don Pettit, would take his place.
STS-113 launched from Launch Advanced 39A (LC-39A) in Florida on Nov. 25, 2002, and the crew docked to the Station only a few days later. Bowersox, Pettit, and Budarin, as a part of Expedition 6, would keep aboard the Station till the subsequent shuttle, Atlantis, visited in March 2003 on the STS-114 mission.
Nevertheless, earlier than Atlantis would fly, NASA selected to fly a science-focused flight, STS-107, aboard House Shuttle Columbia. Launched on Jan. 16, 2003, a chunk of froth insulation from the orange exterior tank struck Columbia’s wing, damaging a number of of the Shuttle’s warmth defend tiles. When the car reentered Earth’s environment on Feb. 1, the opening created by the froth strike led to the lack of the car and the crew of seven.
The Columbia catastrophe grounded the Shuttle fleet for 2 years. With STS-114 not flying to the ISS in March, Bowersox and Pettit, having been on the ISS for over two months, needed to discover a new trip dwelling. NASA’s solely possibility was to ship them dwelling on a Russian Soyuz. The Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft would function the return car for the People. That meant, nevertheless, two extra months in area.
Don Pettit and Ken Bowersox go well with up forward of an EVA throughout Expedition Six. (Credit score: NASA)
After the launch of Crew-10 in 2025, Bowersox described his time on the Station throughout Expedition 6 and his ideas throughout the transfer from Shuttle to Soyuz.
“The explanations we stayed longer on our mission have been unlucky, however one of many positives that got here out of every little thing was merely extra time in area,” Bowersox mentioned. “I flew with Don 20 years in the past. The one time we ever got here near an argument in area was once we disagreed over who would possibly get to remain longer. At one level, they have been speaking about having us prolong for an additional six months and spend a full yr in area. Neither one among us ended up getting to do this.”
“Don’t fear, they have been calling us ‘stranded’ again then, too,” Bowersox mentioned.
With Soyuz TMA-1 being the primary model of the then-upgraded Soyuz TMA capsule, a number of small points have been encountered. On Might 4, 2003, the capsule started its reentry. Somewhat than following a trajectory permitting a smoother trip, the capsule started following a ballistic reentry, subjecting the crew to greater than double the deliberate Gs of a standard Soyuz touchdown.
It was so violent that it ripped off a communications antenna, and the backups didn’t deploy, that means the crew was in a whole radio blackout following touchdown. They have been lastly in a position to make use of a backup transmitter to speak with restoration forces, who ultimately discovered the capsule round 300 miles in need of the deliberate touchdown space.
Whereas Expedition 6 served as Bowersox’s fifth and ultimate flight to area, Don Pettit continued flying, and was onboard the ISS when Butch and Suni made their return dwelling.
Sergei Krikalev
Sergei Krikalev is without doubt one of the most skilled cosmonauts in historical past, having spent greater than 800 days in area. He first flew to the Soviet Mir area station in November 1988, the place he stayed for slightly below six months.
Together with Anatoly Artsebarsky and British astronaut Helen Sharman, Krikalev launched on his second flight to Mir, Soyuz TM-12, on Might 18, 1991, from the steppes of the then Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan to begin a long-duration mission aboard Mir.
Seven days after launch, Sharman would return to Earth with the Soyuz TM-11 crew already aboard Mir, leaving Sergei and Anatoly to conduct science throughout their six-month keep.
The pair carried out six spacewalks and a wide range of experiments throughout the mission, whereas the political panorama 400 km beneath modified drastically. Tanks rolled by means of Moscow’s Pink Sq. as Gorbachev stepped apart, marking the start of the tip for the USSR.
Sergei Krikalev seen along with his crewmate aboard Mir. (Credit score: Roscosmos)
There was a capsule aboard Mir that they may use to get dwelling at any level. Nevertheless, in contrast to the ISS, the Soviet station couldn’t fly with out individuals onboard. So if the crew left, that may imply the tip of the orbiting laboratory. One main query remained, although: did the Soviets even have the cash to launch one other crew?
The Soviet Union started engaged on buying contracts and promoting seats on Soyuz to western companies to be used by their astronauts, with seats going for about $21 million USD, to lift cash for future crewed missions to Mir.
In October 1991, a brand new crew lastly launched, Soyuz TM-13, carrying two cosmonauts and one Austrian astronaut. Following Soyuz TM-13’s docking, discussions round who would keep on Mir started. Whereas three cosmonauts launched on Soyuz TM-13, just one crew member was educated for long-duration spaceflight. This meant that whereas Soyuz TM-12 would return to Earth, it might return with out Krikalev.
After almost 5 months in area, it was decided Artsebarsky would return dwelling, and Soyuz TM-13 commander Aleksandr Volkov would turn out to be the latest resident of Mir.
In early 1992, Krikalev discovered he would lastly return dwelling. The subsequent mission, Soyuz TM-14, that includes a brand new long-duration crew, launched from the now unbiased Republic of Kazakhstan in March 1992.
Krikalev and Volkov returned to Earth aboard the Soyuz TM-13 spacecraft on March 17, 1992. Krikalev, having spent 311 consecutive days in area, nonetheless had his Soviet Union passport, which formally dissolved in December 1991 — 4 months earlier than his touchdown — incomes him the title of “the final citizen of the USSR.”
Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Ryumin
Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Ryumin boarded their Soyuz 32 spacecraft on Feb. 25, 1979, for a launch to the Soviet Salyut-6 area station. The station had already been in orbit for 2 years and was in determined want of a serious overhaul for future long-duration crewed missions.
The crew of Soyuz 32 seen coaching aboard their capsule. (Credit score: RKK Energia)
The Soyuz 33 spacecraft, which might function Lyakhov and Ryumin’s trip dwelling, launched to Salyut 6 on April 10, 1979. Because the Soyuz approached the station, the automated docking system was activated and commanded a six-second burn. Nevertheless, after solely three seconds, the engine shut down.
Like what Boeing tried with Starliner throughout its cumbersome docking with the ISS, the Soyuz crew restarted the spacecraft’s docking system and tried once more. Nevertheless, the system shut down prematurely as soon as once more. The crew contained in the capsule reported violent shaking, and the cosmonauts aboard Salyut 6 famous an uncommon glow from behind Soyuz. At this level, the docking try was known as off.
The choice to desert the docking try left Lyakhov and Ryumin aboard the station. The Soyuz 33 capsule used its backup engine to deorbit. Nevertheless, it fired 30 seconds longer than deliberate, resulting in a ballistic reentry that subjected the Soyuz 33 crew to 10 Gs. They have been recovered safely.
When Lyakhov and Ryumin discovered their keep on Salyut 6 can be prolonged, they reportedly grumbled and instantly lower communications with the bottom. In accordance with studies, there was vital rigidity between the 2 cosmonauts and mission controllers for a number of days after the extension was introduced. With considerations that the Soyuz 33 engine situation might additionally occur to the Soyuz 32 capsule, it was determined that the Soyuz 32 spacecraft would return provides and experiments to Earth with out its crew. Lyakhov and Ryumin would return on the Soyuz 34 spacecraft.
On June 6, 1979, Soyuz 34 was launched, docking shortly thereafter with Salyut 6.
After a number of extra months of labor on the Station, the 2 Soyuz 32 cosmonauts got the “go” to return dwelling. The brand new engine design labored as anticipated, and on Aug. 19, 1979, 175 days after launching on Soyuz 32, Lyakhov and Ryumin landed again on Earth.
(Lead picture: CFT crewmembers Butch WIlmore and Suni Williams aboard the ISS. Credit score: NASA)
