NASA Astronauts Return to Earth After 9 Months on ISS Amid Delays

Two NASA astronauts, Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore, have safely returned to Earth after spending over nine months aboard the International Space Station (ISS), significantly longer than their original one-week mission. Their extended stay followed the failure of Boeing’s Starliner capsule, which had been scheduled to return them home in 2024.

The astronauts splashed down off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida in a SpaceX Dragon capsule, following a 17-hour descent. As the capsule entered Earth’s atmosphere at 17,000 mph, it slowed down to gently splash into the Gulf of Mexico, accompanied by dolphins swimming around the craft.

“We have a capsule full of grins, ear to ear,” Nicholas Hague, a fellow astronaut, said as the capsule landed. Williams and Wilmore, who originally arrived on the ISS on June 6, 2024, intended to evaluate Starliner’s capabilities during its first crewed flight. But a series of technical issues led NASA to extend their stay by making them official crew members aboard the station.

Despite claims of being “abandoned” by some political figures, the astronauts expressed their commitment to their mission and felt no sense of being “stranded.” Their successful return, along with the SpaceX crew, marks the completion of a challenging mission that involved unexpected delays and public controversy.

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