After 286 days in orbit, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have finally returned to Earth. Their journey back concluded with a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, following a departure from the International Space Station just hours earlier. The astronauts were quickly retrieved and taken for routine medical evaluations.
Their extended stay began with a problematic Boeing test flight last year. Initially, they were supposed to spend only a week in space after launching on Boeing’s Starliner capsule in June. However, numerous issues led to the Starliner returning empty, and the astronauts were reassigned to SpaceX, delaying their return until February. Further delays with the SpaceX capsule extended their mission by another month.
The arrival of their replacement crew allowed Wilmore and Williams to finally head home. NASA expedited their departure due to uncertain weather forecasts. They left the station with NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov, who had arrived on a SpaceX capsule in September.
During their 286-day mission, Wilmore and Williams orbited Earth 4,576 times, covering 195 million kilometers. "What a ride," said Hague, as the capsule landed safely. Dolphins surrounded the capsule as divers prepared it for recovery. Once aboard the recovery ship, the astronauts emerged, with Williams and Wilmore both giving thumbs-up gestures.
Their unexpected prolonged mission captured global interest, turning them into well-known figures. Despite other astronauts having longer missions, none faced such unpredictability. During their time on the station, they transitioned from temporary visitors to integral crew members, conducting experiments and performing spacewalks. Williams set a record for the most time spent spacewalking by a female astronaut.
Their mission took an unexpected turn when President Trump urged SpaceX founder Elon Musk to expedite their return, blaming the delay on the Biden administration. SpaceX used a previously flown capsule to speed up the process.
NASA's Joel Montalbano noted that the agency was already considering options to bring the astronauts back when Trump intervened. NASA had contracted SpaceX and Boeing to transport astronauts to and from the space station until its planned decommissioning in 2030, after which private stations are expected to take over.
Steve Stich from NASA praised the team's adaptability and foresight in human spaceflight. Both Wilmore and Williams, retired Navy captains, likened the extended mission to their military deployments, though they acknowledged the challenge it posed for their families.
The astronauts will undergo medical evaluations as they readjust to gravity and are expected to return home shortly. With Boeing's Starliner still under review, SpaceX is set to launch the next crew for NASA by July.