Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore return to Earth after remaining stuck in space for 286 days

Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams and her colleague Butch Wilmore arrived on Earth on Wednesday after staying nine months in space.

Bringing the astronauts back to Earth, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 completed the agency’s ninth commercial crew rotation mission to the International Space Station on Tuesday, splashing down safely in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, in the Gulf of America.

"NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, returned to Earth at 5:57 p.m. EDT," read a statement issued by NASA.

According to reports, the capsule made a fiery entry through the Earth's atmosphere and then four parachutes opened when the four returning astronauts splash down off the coast of Florida.

Making an interesting visual, a pod of dolphins circled the aircraft after the capsule hit the water. The recovery ships soon took the astronauts away after their safe landing.

"After returning to shore, the crew will fly to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and reunite with their families," NASA said.

The astronauts will now undergo a long recovery process.

NASA Reacts

NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro said: "We are thrilled to have Suni, Butch, Nick, and Aleksandr home after their months-long mission conducting vital science, technology demonstrations, and maintenance aboard the International Space Station."

Petro said, “Per President Trump’s direction, NASA and SpaceX worked diligently to pull the schedule a month earlier. This international crew and our teams on the ground embraced the Trump Administration’s challenge of an updated, and somewhat unique, mission plan, to bring our crew home. Through preparation, ingenuity, and dedication, we achieve great things together for the benefit of humanity, pushing the boundaries of what is possible from low Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars.”

286 Days In Space

Williams and Wilmore travelled 121,347,491 miles during their mission, spent 286 days in space, and completed 4,576 orbits around Earth.

Williams and Wilmore have been stuck in the Space Station since June last year after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing on its maiden crewed voyage suffered propulsion issues.

It was deemed unfit for flying them back to Earth.

Crew-9 Mission 

The Crew-9 mission was the fourth flight of the Dragon spacecraft named Freedom. It also previously supported NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4, Axiom Mission 2, and Axiom Mission 3. The spacecraft will return to Florida for inspection and processing at SpaceX’s refurbishing facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, where teams will inspect the Dragon, analyze data on its performance, and begin processing for its next flight.

The Crew-9 flight is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and its return to Earth follows on the heels of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 launch, which docked to the station on March 16, beginning another long-duration science expedition.

Elon Musk Congrats Space X, NASA

Tech entrepreneur and DOGE chief Elon Musk  wrote on X: "Congratulations to the @SpaceX and @NASA teams for another safe astronaut return!"

Petro said, “Per President Trump’s direction, NASA and SpaceX worked diligently to pull the schedule a month earlier. This international crew and our teams on the ground embraced the Trump Administration’s challenge of an updated, and somewhat unique, mission plan, to bring our crew home. Through preparation, ingenuity, and dedication, we achieve great things together for the benefit of humanity, pushing the boundaries of what is possible from low Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars.”

286 Days In Space

Williams and Wilmore travelled 121,347,491 miles during their mission, spent 286 days in space, and completed 4,576 orbits around Earth.

Williams and Wilmore have been stuck in the Space Station since June last year after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing on its maiden crewed voyage suffered propulsion issues.

It was deemed unfit for flying them back to Earth.

Crew-9 Mission 

The Crew-9 mission was the fourth flight of the Dragon spacecraft named Freedom. It also previously supported NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4, Axiom Mission 2, and Axiom Mission 3. The spacecraft will return to Florida for inspection and processing at SpaceX’s refurbishing facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, where teams will inspect the Dragon, analyze data on its performance, and begin processing for its next flight.

The Crew-9 flight is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and its return to Earth follows on the heels of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 launch, which docked to the station on March 16, beginning another long-duration science expedition.