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Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams return home after being stuck on ISS for nine months

An extended stay on the International Space Station was not a planned event, but William and Wilmore finally returned with a story to tell.

BY MAHALEKSHMI P

UPDATED MAR 19, 2025

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams' pods drop into the ocean as they made their return to the Earth

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams garnered global attention when their week-long mission turned into an extended nine-month stay. They were part of the first crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft that took off from Earth in June. After much effort, the astronauts have finally returned to Earth onboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, reported the space agency. Williams and Wilmore were accompanied by astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. The SpaceX capsule successfully splashed down in the Gulf of America at 5:57 p.m. EDT on Tuesday (March 18).

The Dragon capsule eased into an on-target splashdown off Florida's Gulf Coast near Tallahassee, seventeen hours after undocking from the ISS. The radio messages note the moment of splashdown, according to the reports of CBS News. When the four main parachutes opened from the spacecraft, Hague radioed SpaceX flight controllers in Hawthorne, "Splashdown! Good mains release." "Copy, splashdown," a SpaceX engineer replied. "We see main chutes cut. Nick, Alex, Butch, Suni, on behalf of SpaceX, welcome home." Hague replied in return, "What a ride, I see a capsule full of grins, ear to ear.”

Near the landing site, a SpaceX recovery ship was stationed so that the spacecraft could be taken onboard. A crew on the recovery ship helped the crew in the spacecraft onto stretchers for preliminary medical checks. The side hatch of the craft was opened at 6:38 p.m. EDT and around 10 minutes later, the crew got out. Williams and Wilmore were the last ones to come out.

"They will get some well-deserved time off, well-deserved time with their families," NASA's Commercial Crew Program Chief Steve Stich stated after retrieving the astronauts. "It's been a long time for them," he added, as per Reuters. The astronauts were flown on a NASA plane to their crew quarters at the space agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. A few days of routine health checks will be done before they are given the green light to go home by NASA flight surgeons. Their flight ranks in sixth place on the list of longest single NASA missions.

The mission covered 4,576 orbits and 121 million miles since last June 5, despite the Boeing problems, reported CBS News. As there is a certain political angle to this mission, the astronauts are scheduled to visit the White House to meet President Donald J. Trump. As per Reuters, NASA had moved up the Crew-9's replacement mission following orders from the Oval Office. In the meantime, the astronauts spent time exercising to keep healthy in the weightlessness of space.

Wilmore and Williams will also be receiving extensive rehabilitation for the upcoming weeks as their bodies have to adapt to the pull of gravity. "Butch and Suni enjoyed their time on station, they got to do spacewalks and they got to do lots of cool science and things like that," said Steve Stich, manager of NASA's commercial crew program. "Their families, kudos to them for being resilient. ... The families, a huge thank you to them. I'm sure the reunion is going to be wonderful with the families," he added. This mission also adds to the intrigue of future missions that can be planned for the spacecraft.