Two NASA astronauts who have been stranded in space for the past nine months have finally returned to Earth.
Butch Wilmore, 62, and Suni Williams, 59, landed off the Florida coast just before 10pm (GMT) this evening following a 17-hour journey back home. They departed the International Space Station (ISS) at around 5am yesterday morning on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon with two other astronauts who had been there since last September. Four parachutes were deployed to allow the aircraft to slow down as it approached the Florida coast, making for a gentle splash down in the ocean.
After they splashed down, NASA made a galling statement, praising Donald Trump for helping the pair home - despite the huge delay and repeated snags. It said the mission was only possible with Mr Trump's "direction" - and had the audacity to state it had been completed one month before schedule.
After landing, the astronauts were greeted by the control centre: "Nick, Alec, Butch, Suni - on behalf of SpaceX, welcome home." Commander Nick Hague responded: "What a ride I see a capsule full of grins, ear to ear."
A recovery team was also seen speeding over to the capsule in fast boats to carry out safety checks and retrieve the parachutes.
Wilmore and Williams first arrived on the ISS on three months earlier on June 5 having travelled via Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule. They were only supposed be on the space station for just over a week.
But a string of technical problems on the way to the ISS meant that that NASA sent the aircraft back empty as it was too risky to bring them home. A SpaceX craft arrived in late September with two more astronauts - NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia ’s Alexander Gorbunov - and two spare seats.
The problem was that the new arrivals' mission was six-months long. Then, SpaceX capsule issues added another month’s delay but the arrival of their relief crew on Sunday meant Wilmore and Williams could finally leave.
“We'll miss you, but have a great journey home,” NASA's Anne McClain called out from the space station as the capsule pulled away 260 miles above the Pacific. Their plight captured the world ’s attention, giving new meaning to the excuse for arriving home late because you're “stuck at work”.
While other astronauts had logged longer spaceflights over the decades, none had to deal with so much uncertainty or see the length of their mission expand by so much. Wilmore and Williams quickly transitioned from guests to full-fledged station crew members, conducting experiments, fixing equipment and even spacewalking together.
With 62 hours over nine spacewalks, Williams set a new record: the most time spent spacewalking over a career among female astronauts. Both had lived on the orbiting lab before and knew the ropes, and brushed up on their station training before rocketing away. Williams became the station's commander three months into their stay and held the post until earlier this month.
Their mission took an unexpected twist in late January when President Donald Trump asked SpaceX founder Elon Musk to accelerate the astronauts’ return and blamed the delay on the Biden administration. The replacement crew’s brand new SpaceX capsule still wasn’t ready to fly, so SpaceX subbed it with a used one, hurrying things along by at least a few weeks.
Even amid the political storm, Wilmore and Williams remain dignified, casting no blame and insisting they supported NASA’s decisions. NASA hired SpaceX and Boeing after its shuttle program ended so that two competing US companies could transport astronauts to and from the space station until it was abandoned in 2030.
It will have been up there for more than three decades by then. The plan is to replace it with privately run stations so NASA can focus on moon and Mars expeditions.
Both retired Navy captains, Wilmore and Williams, stressed they didn’t mind spending more time in space - a prolonged deployment reminiscent of their military days. But they acknowledged it was tough on their families.
Wilmore missed most of his younger daughter’s senior year of high school; his older daughter is at university. While Williams had to settle for internet calls from space to her mum.