GUWAHATI: NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have successfully returned to Earth after spending over nine months aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The astronauts splashed down off the coast of Florida at 3:27 AM (IST) today, March 19, aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.
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In a tweet on X (formerly Twitter), the White House shared footage of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft making its splashdown, highlighting the successful return of the astronauts. The post was accompanied by a statement celebrating President Trump’s fulfillment of his promise to rescue the astronauts. “Promise made, promise kept: President Trump pledged to rescue the astronauts stranded in space for nine months. Today, they safely splashed down in the Gulf of America, thanks to Elon Musk, SpaceX, and NASA!”
Williams and Wilmore, who initially launched aboard NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test on June 5, 2024, were originally scheduled for an eight-day mission to the ISS. However, during their approach to the space station, NASA and Boeing discovered helium leaks and issues with the spacecraft's reaction control thrusters. As a result, the mission was cut short, and the Starliner was sent back to Earth without the crew.
After further assessment, the astronauts were reassigned to SpaceX's Crew-9 mission in August 2024, joining NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov for the extended mission. Following over nine months of waiting, the astronauts have finally returned to Earth today.
During their time aboard the orbiting laboratory, Hague, Williams, and Wilmore conducted over 900 hours of research across more than 150 unique scientific experiments and technology demonstrations
