- NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Earth after a nine-month mission, landing safely off the Florida coast aboard a SpaceX capsule.
- The mission, originally planned for eight days, was extended due to technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.
- During their extended stay, the astronauts conducted experiments and spacewalks, with Williams setting a new record for the most hours spent outside the station by a woman.
After spending nine months aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have safely returned to Earth. Their journey home ended with a dramatic re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere, followed by a smooth splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. The SpaceX capsule carrying the pair, along with astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, was quickly recovered by a waiting ship as dolphins circled nearby.
The mission, originally intended to last just eight days, stretched into a nine-month ordeal due to technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which the duo had used to reach the space station in June 2024. Starliner’s problems made it unsafe for their return, forcing NASA to find an alternative way home. Their eventual ride came aboard a SpaceX capsule that had arrived on a separate mission, creating a lengthy delay as they waited for that spacecraft’s six-month mission to conclude.
During their extended stay, Wilmore and Williams fully embraced life aboard the orbiting laboratory. The pair conducted numerous scientific experiments and multiple spacewalks, with Williams setting a new record for the most hours spent on spacewalks by a female astronaut. The crew even managed to celebrate Christmas in space, donning Santa hats and reindeer antlers in a festive message sent back to Earth.
After a 17-hour journey home, the astronauts were helped from the capsule and placed on stretchers — standard protocol after long-duration space missions due to the toll microgravity takes on the human body. Medical teams will closely monitor their recovery as they readjust to gravity, a process that could take weeks or even months as they work to rebuild muscle and bone density affected by their time in space.
The returning crew will soon head to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, for further medical evaluations and reunions with their families. While the mission was extended far beyond expectations, the astronauts remained safe throughout, with contingency plans always in place. Now back on Earth, they will begin the process of recovery and reflect on a mission that proved their resilience and adaptability in the face of unexpected challenges.
