How much will it cost Musk's SpaceX to bring Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth?

NASA astronauts Sunita 'Suni' Williams and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore will soon return to Earth after an eight-day trip to the International Space Station (ISS) in June that ended up lasting over nine months.

As a result of technical issues, Williams, 59, and Wilmore, 62, will return home on Tuesday (18 March) on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft, which arrived at the ISS on Sunday.

The journey home is expected to last almost 17 hours, with a splashdown predicted to take place before 22:00 GMT off the coast of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean. Here's everything you need to know.

Who are Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore?

The two astronauts are both NASA-trained space travelers. Williams is a retired US Navy officer who joined NASA in 1998. She has spent 322 days in space and has completed nine spacewalks.

Wilmore flew in 2009 on STS-129, and before the Boeing Starliner mission, he had spent 178 days in space. He served as the commander of the Boeing mission, while Williams was the pilot.

Both total days in space are before they were stuck on the ISS for 286 days in total.

How much will it cost SpaceX to bring Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore home?

Now that Wilmore and Williams are on their way home, you’re probably wondering how much the mission to Earth actually costs.

The Falcon 9 is the rocket that launches the Crew Dragon capsule into orbit, while the Crew Dragon is the spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to and from the ISS.

Reusable rockets, such as SpaceX’s Falcon 9, are revolutionizing space travel by significantly reducing costs. There have also been improvements in space technology. However, once you factor in human passengers, the cost increases significantly.

The typical cost of a Falcon 9 launch is around $69.75 million as of 2024. When the Crew Dragon capsule is added, which is necessary for carrying astronauts, the cost of a launch increases to $140 million. This is because the Crew Dragon adds significant weight to the rocket, as well as additional safety systems, life support, and human-rated components.

At 05:05 GMT the SpaceX Crew Dragon carrying the two astronauts undocked from the ISS.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams in June 2024Getty

How did the two astronauts get stuck in space?

The space travellers embarked on a trip to the ISS on 5 June last year on board Boeing’s Starliner, in a mission that was supposed to last just eight days.

Issues with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft emerged when docking at the ISS, and so it returned to Earth without the pair inside in September due to safety concerns.

The astronaut's return journey has been pushed back a number of times; they had been scheduled to make the journey home in February but last month this was delayed once again. This is due to the SpaceX rocket that will take them back down to Earth not being ready. A new timeline was given by NASA in December for "no earlier than late March". This is in line with the timeline Musk shared in the Fox interview.

Strangely, Trump announced at the end of January that he instructed Musk’s SpaceX company to return the two astronauts, claiming they had been “virtually abandoned” on the ISS.

Musk, who is the chief executive of SpaceX, posted on X on 28 January that the president asked him to bring the astronauts back “as soon as possible”.

What happens next?

After spending several months in space, both Suni and Butch will have to get used to living on Earth again. You can read more about the ways space travel impacts human health here.

You should also read:

'Alien' spotted on board ISS as stranded astronauts prepare for return to Earth

NASA's 'stranded' astronauts respond to Elon Musk's claim he offered to get them home early

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