Several Tallahassee, Florida residents may have witnessed a remarkable event on Tuesday when four astronauts descended from space to the Florida coast. Among them were NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who spent over nine months in space, well beyond their initial 10-day mission plan. The duo arrived at the International Space Station on June 5 via the Boeing Starliner but encountered technical issues that prevented their return. Video footage captured the successful splashdown with four parachutes gently guiding the astronauts to a safe landing in Florida waters. Inside the Dragon spacecraft, the returning astronauts transitioned back to Earthlings. NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who had reached the station on Sept. 29 aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, also returned to Earth on the same evening.
The astronauts were ‘stuck’ in space due to technical problems with the Starliner spacecraft, which experienced helium leaks and propulsion issues that made a return flight unsafe. Instead of launching an emergency mission, NASA opted to keep the astronauts in orbit until they could safely return. SpaceX conducted the Crew-9 mission with Hague and Gorbunov to retrieve Wilmore and Williams after their extended stay. The Crew-10 astronauts arrived last week aboard another SpaceX Dragon to prepare for Crew-9’s return.
Wilmore, Williams, Hague, and Gorbunov landed off the Florida coast near Tallahassee with favorable weather conditions as they returned to Earth. They were welcomed home by someone from Mission Control on behalf of SpaceX.
