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A pair of NASA astronauts, stranded in space for over nine months, finally returned to Earth on Tuesday, splashing down in the Gulf of America off Tallahassee, Florida.
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Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 62, and Suni Williams, 59, had been aboard the International Space Station (ISS) since June 2024, when their week-long mission turned into an extended stay due to spacecraft issues. They were replaced over the weekend by the newly arrived four-person Crew-10, transported by a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
“On behalf of SpaceX, welcome home,” radioed SpaceX Mission Control.
“What a ride,” replied NASA astronaut Nick Hague, the capsule’s commander.
Their return was delayed first by Boeing’s Starliner capsule, which had “helium leaks” and “issues with the spacecraft reaction control thrusters,” forcing NASA to send it back empty. Later, additional SpaceX capsule issues further postponed their homecoming.
With their relief crew in place, Wilmore and Williams could finally depart. Their Dragon capsule performed “multiple orbit-lowering maneuvers” before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere and splashing down near Florida.
The ISS orbits 250 miles above Earth, and NASA continues working with Boeing to resolve Starliner’s problems. Meanwhile, SpaceX remains a key player in NASA’s commercial crew program, now having completed 10 human spaceflight missions.
After 17 hours in transit from the ISS, the crew splashed down safely, grinning “ear to ear,” Hague said.
