‘Stranded’ Astronauts Return to Earth After 9 Months on Area Station

After 286 days in home, two American astronauts who’ve been caught on the Worldwide Space Station since ultimate spring are lastly once more down on Earth.

Butch Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams splashed down softly off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida for the time being at about 5:58 PM ET, following a 19-hour journey in a SpaceX spacecraft, alongside astronauts Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov.

It was a clear arrival once more to Planet Earth, with Dragon Freedom’s Crew-9 parachutes deploying 6,000 ft throughout the air, and the administration room erupting in cheers as they splashed down into the water.

A support crew arrived on the ISS Sunday, giving Butch and Suni the inexperienced mild to maneuver home after 9 months spent in home. NASA even bumped up their return by a day to dodge some unfavorable local weather later this week.

Wilmore and Williams, every check out pilots, had been solely alleged to be in home for 8 days … they flew the Boeing Starliner as a lot because the ISS in June ultimate yr, nonetheless due to thruster factors and helium leaks, NASA decided to return the spacecraft to Earth completely empty — forcing the sudden staycation in home for Butch and Suni. They’ve been caught on the Worldwide Space Station ever since.

To be clear … they’d been in no way really “stranded” — Butch and Suni had arrived on the ISS prepared for an extended hold throughout the event one factor on the mission went sideways … as a result of it did. NASA was considering whether or not or not the two could fly once more on the Boeing Starliner, nonetheless NASA vetoed them getting on that return journey over safety issues.

Then they’d the possibility to return in September, nonetheless they opted to stay, as a result of the SpaceX craft despatched up on the time saved 2 crew members off the flight, to offer Buch and Suni seats for the journey once more … nonetheless that will have left no replacements on the ISS in the event that they’d departed. So that they stayed.