NASA Astronauts Splash Down Off Florida Coast After 9 Months In Space

Science

Two NASA astronauts have splashed down off Florida’s coast and emerged from their capsule after spending nine months stuck in space due to a malfunctioning return ship and a series of delays and staffing issues.

A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams landed in the Gulf of Mexico just before 6 p.m. ET Tuesday. All four parachutes deployed as intended in the final moments of the crew’s 17-hour journey back to Earth.

NASA astronaut Suni Williams gives a thumbs-up after being helped out of a SpaceX capsule onboard the SpaceX recovery ship Megan.

NASA’s Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency joined the pair in the capsule.

Within minutes of landing, crews approached the capsule to conduct safety checks on the spacecraft as a pod of dolphins splashed around them. The capsule was lifted onto a recovery boat around 6:30 p.m. ET, and the astronauts emerged shortly after, smiling and waving. They were then placed on stretchers, in accordance with standard procedure, to undergo medical checks before returning to land by helicopter within four hours and then boarding a plane to NASA headquarters in Houston.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, wearing Boeing spacesuits, are seen before preparing to board the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on June 5, 2024.

Wilmore and Williams had been at the International Space Station since June after their original ride there, a Boeing Starliner spacecraft, malfunctioned. Their visit was initially expected to last about nine days but it ultimately stretched into nearly a year, leading to criticism and speculation that they had been “stranded” there.

The pair was meant to only test out Boeing’s Starliner transportation vessel. But after safely reaching the space station, the vessel, which experienced issues and delays before liftoff, was determined to be too risky for the pair’s return use and it was sent back to Earth unmanned.

NASA later said the astronauts would instead return on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft that docked at the space station with two empty seats for them in September. That spacecraft, called Dragon Freedom, wasn’t scheduled to leave for Earth until February, however.

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is seen as it lands with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard.

Come December, NASA said it would again have to postpone their return to late March, at the earliest, due to technical issues on Earth with a new Dragon vehicle that was meant to carry a relief crew up to replace Wilmore and Williams.

To help speed things up, a different Dragon spacecraft was ultimately launched on Friday with a relief crew, allowing the Dragon Freedom’s departure from the space station early Tuesday.

The space agency argued that they could bring back Wilmore and Williams at any time but that the pair had become full-fledged station crew members at the space station and returning them to Earth before other astronauts were available to replace them would jeopardize the science and maintenance of the station.

This image taken from NASA video shows the SpaceX capsule carrying NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, and Russian astronaut Alexander Gorbunov, undocking from the International Space Station on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump in late January further stoked scrutiny of the astronauts’ conditions when he publicly alleged that they had “been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden administration.” He said he had personally asked SpaceX founder Elon Musk to “go get” the astronauts.

NASA said such a plan had already been in the works with SpaceX for months, however.

Throughout the public criticism and skepticism, both Wilmore and Williams publicly maintained that they were healthy and well, though eager to return to Earth.