'Butch and Suni' astronauts prepare for Tuesday homecoming after nine-month mission

FILE PHOTO: NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams pose for a picture at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, ahead of Boeing's Starliner-1 Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., June 5, 2024. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, two veteran NASA astronauts who have been stuck on the International Space Station for nine months, are scheduled to begin their return to Earth early on Tuesday morning on a long-awaited flight home to cap an unusual mission.

After a replacement crew arrived on the space station Saturday night, Wilmore, Williams and two other astronauts are poised to undock from the ISS at 1:05 a.m. ET (0505 GMT) Tuesday to begin a 17-hour trip back to Earth.