Astronauts return to Earth after months stranded in orbit (VIDEO)

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams spent nine months in space instead of eight days, as was originally planned

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams safely returned to Earth on Tuesday, landing in the ocean off Florida’s coast in a SpaceX capsule. Their journey came nine months after a malfunction in their Boeing Starliner spacecraft extended what was originally planned to be a week-long stay aboard the International Space Station.

Williams and Wilmore, alongside NASA’s Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency undocked from the ISS at 1:05am ET on Tuesday aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, beginning their 17-hour journey to Earth.

The four-person crew, formally part of NASA’s Crew-9 astronaut rotation mission, safely splashed down off Tallahassee, Florida, at 5:57pm ET.

“What a ride,” NASA astronaut Nick Hague, the Crew-9 mission commander inside the Dragon capsule, told mission control moments after splashing down. “I see a capsule full of grins, ear to ear.”

The vessel was lifted out of the water onto a recovery ship, and the astronauts will be flown to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for routine health checks before being cleared to reunite with their families.

Williams, 59, and Wilmore, 62, launched on June 5 last year to test Boeing’s long-awaited Starliner, designed as a competitor to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. However, by the time they reached the ISS, the spacecraft had experienced major issues, including five helium leaks, thruster pressurization issues, and a malfunctioning propellant valve.

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Last summer, NASA deemed returning them on the Boeing Starliner too risky and instead integrated them into the ISS’ regular crew rotation. After multiple delays, the Starliner was brought back to Earth uncrewed in September. That same month, the Crew-9 capsule arrived at the ISS carrying Hague and Gorbunov, with two empty seats reserved for Wilmore and Williams for their eventual return.

Shortly after taking office in January, US President Donald Trump urged SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to bring Wilmore and Williams home, while criticizing former President Joe Biden for leaving the pair “stranded.” NASA officials, however, stated that the decision to extend the astronauts’ stay was based on operational considerations and was not politically motivated.

The situation was awkward for Boeing, as its rival had to step in to bring back the astronauts from Starliner’s first crewed test flight. Meanwhile, the future of the Starliner program remains uncertain.

Wilmore and Williams spent 286 days in space – an extended mission but far from a record. The world record of 437 days in orbit remains held by the late Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov.