A pair of NASA astronauts, Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 62, and Suni Williams, 59, finally returned to Earth on Tuesday after being stranded in space for more than nine months. Their unexpected extended mission concluded as they splashed down in the Gulf of America off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.
Wilmore and Williams had originally embarked on their journey aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 5, 2024, expecting to stay at the International Space Station (ISS) for about a week. However, a series of technical issues with the Starliner extended their stay significantly, ultimately leading NASA to arrange their return via a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
The arrival of the four-person Crew-10 team aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule on Sunday finally paved the way for their return. This new crew took over duties on the ISS, allowing Wilmore and Williams to depart alongside NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, completing the Crew-9 mission, reports Fox Business.
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft that transported Wilmore and Williams to the ISS suffered from “helium leaks” and “issues with the spacecraft reaction control thrusters” as it neared the station, NASA reported. These issues prevented Starliner from making a safe return trip with its crew. Instead, NASA and Boeing opted for an unmanned return of the spacecraft in early September to gather additional testing data while minimizing risks to human life.
Due to these complications, NASA reassigned Wilmore and Williams to Crew-9 and scheduled their return alongside Hague and Gorbunov. However, additional delays occurred when SpaceX experienced capsule issues, further postponing their homecoming.
After months of waiting, the astronauts finally undocked from the ISS aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, which conducted multiple orbit-lowering maneuvers before successfully re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. Upon their return, Hague noted that the crew was “grinning ear to ear” with relief and excitement.
“On behalf of SpaceX, welcome home,” radioed SpaceX Mission Control in California.
“What a ride,” responded Hague, the capsule’s commander.
During a post-landing news conference, NASA’s Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Operations, Joel Montalbano, was asked about claims by former President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk that the Biden administration intentionally delayed the astronauts’ return for political reasons. Montalbano dismissed the allegations, stating, “I wasn’t involved in any conversations with the previous administration. It was clear we had a request from the current administration, and the results you saw are what we saw today with the landing of Crew-9.”
But, Mark Kelly stated that the astronauts were not stranded. Perhaps, they were ‘forgotten or stuck’ for awhile. But, at least Space X brought them home safely.