Astronauts return to Earth after spending 9 months in space
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Earth in a SpaceX capsule on Tuesday with a soft splashdown off Florida’s coast, nine months after their faulty Boeing Starliner craft upended what was to be a week-long stay on the International Space Station.
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Stuck astronauts return to Earth This image taken from NASA video shows the SpaceX capsule carrying NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, and Russian astronaut Alexander Gorbunov, after undocking from the International Space Station on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (NASA via AP) (AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth This image taken from video released by SpaceX shows, from left, NASA's Butch Wilmore, Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov, NASA’s Nick Hague, and NASA's Suni Williams wait to exit the SpaceX capsule after splashing down, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (SpaceX via AP) (AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth This image taken from NASA video shows the SpaceX capsule carrying NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, and Russian astronaut Alexander Gorbunov, before undocking from the International Space Station on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (NASA via AP) (AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth This image taken from video released by SpaceX shows a SpaceX capsule parachuting into the Gulf of Mexico, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (SpaceX via AP) (AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth In this image provided by NASA, a SpaceX capsule floats over the Gulf of Mexico, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as it lands off the coast of Florida with NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. (Keegan Barber/NASA via AP) (Keegan Barber/AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth In this image taken from video provided by NASA, a SpaceX capsule, with main parachutes deployed, floats over the Gulf of Mexico, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as it lands off the coast of Florida with NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. (NASA via AP) (AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth This image taken from video released by SpaceX shows a SpaceX capsule parachuting into the Gulf of Mexico, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (SpaceX via AP) (AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth In this image provided by NASA, a SpaceX capsule splashes down in the Gulf of Mexico, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as it lands off the coast of Florida with NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. (Keegan Barber/NASA via AP) (Keegan Barber/AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth In this image taken from video provided by NASA, a SpaceX capsule floats in the Gulf of Mexico, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, after landing off the coast of Florida with NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. (NASA via AP) (AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth A support team member works on the SpaceX capsule shortly after it landed with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov aboard as a dolphin swims past in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Fla., Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Keegan Barber/NASA via AP) (Keegan Barber/AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth In this image taken from video provided by NASA, a SpaceX capsule floats in the Gulf of Mexico, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, after landing off the coast of Florida with NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. (NASA via AP) (AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth This image taken from video released by SpaceX shows dolphins swimming near a SpaceX capsule, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, after landing off the coast of Florida with NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. (SpaceX via AP) (AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth This image taken from video provided by SpaceX shows NASA's Suni Williams being helped after exiting the SpaceX capsule, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (SpaceX via AP) (AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth This image taken from video provided by SpaceX shows NASA's Butch Wilmore being helped after exiting the SpaceX capsule, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (SpaceX via AP) (AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth NASA astronaut Suni Williams gives a thumbs-up after being helped out of a SpaceX capsule onboard the SpaceX recovery ship Megan after landing in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Fla., Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Keegan Barber/NASA via AP) (Keegan Barber/AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore is helped out of a SpaceX capsule onboard the SpaceX recovery ship Megan after landing in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Fla., Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Keegan Barber/NASA via AP) (Keegan Barber/AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth NASA employees react on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, at Johnson Space Center in Houston after watching astronauts splash down off the coast of Florida. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) (Ashley Landis/AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth Villagers cheer as they celebrate the safe return of NASA astronaut Suni Williams, also known as Sunita Williams, from the International Space Station (ISS), at a temple in her ancestral village Jhulasan in Mehsana district of Gujarat state, India, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki) (Ajit Solanki/AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth Villagers light fire crackers and dance as they celebrate the safe return of NASA astronaut Suni Williams, also known as Sunita Williams, from the International Space Station (ISS), at a temple in her ancestral village Jhulasan in Mehsana district of Gujarat state, India, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki) (Ajit Solanki/AP)
Stuck astronauts return to Earth Indian students celebrating the safe return from the International Space Station (ISS) of American astronaut of Indian origin Suni Williams, also known as Sunita Williams, dance carrying her photograph at her ancestral village Jhulasan in Mehsana district of Gujarat state, India, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki) (Ajit Solanki/AP)
