NASA astronauts back on Earth after nine months in space
Two Nasa astronauts stuck onboard the International Space Station (ISS) since June 2024 finally arrived back on Earth on Tuesday evening, more than nine months after the failure of Boeing’s pioneering Starliner capsule scuppered their originally scheduled week-long mission.
A SpaceX Dragon capsule containing four astronauts, including Starliner’s test pilots Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore, splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Tallahassee.
The spacecraft slowed from 17,000mph (27,359 km/h) as it entered Earth’s atmosphere and emerged into a clear blue Florida sky before coasting under four parachutes to a gentle splashdown on what a Nasa commentator said was a “calm, glasslike ocean”.
Williams and Wilmore arrived at the ISS on 6 June last year, intending to stay long enough to evaluate Starliner’s docking and operational capabilities during its first crewed flight and return home no more than 10 days later.
But a series of technical issues and safety fears led Nasa and Boeing to send the capsule back to Earth empty in September, and extend the pair’s stay by making them crew members onboard the space station in place of two other astronauts still on the ground who were reassigned to other future missions.
The Dragon capsule, called Freedom, undocked from the orbiting outpost at 1.05am ET on Monday, containing Williams, Wilmore, Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
Dressed in re-entry suits, boots and helmets, the astronauts were seen earlier on Nasa’s live footage laughing, hugging and posing for photos with their colleagues from the station shortly before they were shut into the capsule for two hours of final pressure, communications and seal tests.
WATCH VIDEO:
Splashdown confirmed! #Crew9 is now back on Earth in their @SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. pic.twitter.com/G5tVyqFbAu
— NASA (@NASA) March 18, 2025
