The US astronauts stranded on the International Space Station joyfully emerged from their rescue capsule following a dramatic but smooth return to Earth Tuesday — months after their days-long jaunt in orbit turned into a headline-grabbing space odyssey.
Butch Wilmore, 62, and 59-year-old Suni Williams splashed down off the coast of Tallahassee, Fla., aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule just before 6 p.m. EST Tuesday, concluding a nine-month stint in space that was supposed to last just eight days when it launched in June 2024.
“Butch, Suni, on behalf of SpaceX, welcome home,” a mission-control dispatcher radioed the crew moments after the capsule Dragon Freedom splashed down.
Less than an hour later, the duo — along with American astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov — were extracted from the capsule onboard a recovery vessel, and each was filmed beaming, waving and pumping their fists as they were helped to their feet and whisked away on wheelchairs.
After the safe splashdown, a NASAJoel Montalbano told reporters
The stranded astronauts conducted around 150 experiments — about 900 hours worth — during their extra time in space, which will be instrumental in the future of human space travel, Joel Montalbano, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for space operations told reporters after the safe splashdown.
“The work we do on the International Space Station benefits the nation, benefits people on Earth and are the building blocks for going back to the moon and to Mars.”
The dramatic return started in space around 1 a.m. Tuesday morning, and about 17 hours later, the capsule came into view from Earth as it soared across the Gulf of America at a red-hot 400 miles per hour that set its heat shield aglow in the clear afternoon skies.
Moments earlier, it had been traveling 17,500 miles per hour as it descended into the atmosphere.
Four parachutes then erupted from the capsule in perfect formation, gently lowering the scorched craft into the balmy gulf waters at just 16 miles per hour.
The crew was heard telling mission control they were all “grinning from ear to ear” in radio chatter picked up by CNN moments after the safe landing.
An armada of recovery boats rushed to the bobbing capsule to make sure it was secured and safe — and a school of dolphins even showed up and swam alongside as it was pulled back to the main recovery vessel.
The capsule was lifted from the water onto the recovery ship’s deck about 30 minutes after splashdown.
The triumphant homecoming comes a baffling 278 days behind schedule — when Williams and Wilmore first arrived at the ISS in June 2024, they were scheduled to stay for just about 10 days.
But a malfunction on their Boeing-made return capsule stranded them in space, while numerous delays and political bickering left Wilmore and Williams in orbit for 286 days.
With much relief from the watching world — more than 2 million people were watching SpaceX’s live feed on X — the Dragon Freedom’s hatch was opened about 40 minutes after it touched down in the Gulf.
After being helped out of the capsule on wheelchairs — standard practice for astronauts returning to Earth’s gravity — the astronauts were taken to a medical facility on the ship for assessment.
They will soon be whisked away to Johnson Space Center in Houston — home of NASA’s human spaceflight program — where they’ll spend several days being evaluated by doctors and getting back on their feet after months in zero gravity.
Long stretches living in space can result in muscle atrophy and vision impairment upon returning to gravity, each of which and other problems they’ll be monitored for before being cleared to return to their families.
“They have to get better. It’s going to be a little bit tough for them — it’s not easy, you know, they’re up a long time,” President Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham Tuesday after their return.
“And when they do, they’ll come to the Oval Office.”
Their extended stay in orbit landed them sixth in the running for most continuous days spent in space, just behind the 289 days astronaut Peggy Whitson logged in 2017, according to Reuters.
The high record holder remains Frank Rubio, who spent 371 days on the space station when his return capsule sprung a leak and left him similarly stranded on the ISS in 2022.
Despite headlines describing the astronauts as “trapped” or “stranded,” they were never truly stuck in space — the ISS is always equipped with two capsules that can evacuate everybody onboard in the event of a dire emergency, according to the BBC.
Their predicament nevertheless grabbed headlines, especially after President Trump repeatedly blamed former President Joe Biden for leaving them marooned — while SpaceX founder Elon Musk claimed the ex-president even turned down a chance to rescue them months ago because he feared a disaster before the November election.
“They were left up there for political reasons, which is not good,” Musk said while seated alongside Trump in a Fox News interview last month, explaining that SpaceX docked a capsule with the ISS in September — but that NASA decided not to go through with a rescue in a decision that supposedly came directly from Biden.
Both stranded astronauts have largely tried to stay out of the political fray from their perch 250 miles in the sky, but during a March interview, Wilmore said he believed Musk’s take.
“I can only say that Mr. Musk, what he says, is absolutely factual … I believe him,” Wilmore said.
Trump even issued a blunt message to the astronauts while speaking with reporters from the White House earlier this month
“The most incompetent president in our history has allowed that to happen to you, but this president won’t let it happen,” he said in a message to the astronauts while speaking from the White House earlier this month.
“They’ve been left up there — I hope they like each other, maybe they love each other, I don’t know,” he added.
“But they’ve been left up there. Think of it. And I see the woman with the wild hair, good, solid hair she’s got. There’s no kidding, there’s no games with her hair.”
