Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams returned to Earth aboard a SpaceX capsule following technical issues that led to an extended stay at the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who had spent over nine months in space, landed back on Earth on Tuesday.
The pair, who had their six-day mission extended because of an issue with their Boeing Starliner spacecraft, left the International Space Station (ISS) early Tuesday morning. in a SpaceX capsule .
Willmore and Williams were joined by two additional astronauts—American Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov—in a 17-hour journey back to Earth, which began at 1:05 a.m. ET (0505 GMT).
The capsule transporting the astronauts made landfall off Florida's coastline at 5:57 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
NASA astronauts eventually depart from the space station
Video recordings captured the astronauts smiling, embracing, and taking photographs with their fellow crew members from the space station prior to departing the ISS.
They were subsequently enclosed within the capsule, dressed in their re-entry suits, boots, and helmets, for a duration of two hours as various final checks such as pressure, communication, and seals were conducted.
The team of four astronauts officially forms part of NASA's Crew-9 mission rotation.
" Crew-9 is heading back home," stated Commander Nick Hague from within the capsule.
Hague stated it was an honor to "consider the station home" as part of a global initiative for the "betterment of humankind."
Having spent a prolonged period in space Upon returning to Earth, the astronauts will undergo multiple days of health assessments at NASA's facility in Houston.
Lengthy missions transformed into political spectacles
The two seasoned NASA astronauts and former US Navy test pilots embarked on Starliner’s maiden crewed flight in June, with their initial mission slated to span only a handful of days.
Nevertheless, issues with the Starliner's propulsion system resulted in several postponements of their journey back home, leading NASA will make the decision to head back to Earth. in a SpaceX craft.
Willmore and Williams's time in space surpassed the typical six-month duration of an ISS mission.
The postponement of the mission highlighted both NASA's backup strategies and the shortcomings of Boeing's Starliner spaceship.
The mission attracted political scrutiny when U.S. President Donald Trump called for a speedier return of the astronauts and claimed that ex-President Joe Biden had "abandoned" them on the ISS for political purposes.
Edited by: Alex Berry, Wesley Dockery
Author: Midhat Fatimah (with AFP, Reuters)