March 18 (UPI) — Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who were stranded at the International Space Station for nine months after they were forced to abandon Boeing Starliner due to thruster issues, are finally back on Earth after a successful splashdown Tuesday at 5:57 p.m. EDT off the gulf coast of Florida under sunny, blue skies.
The two Starliner astronauts made the more than 17-hour journey from ISS inside SpaceX Dragon with Crew-9 members NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who spent the last six months at the space station.
“Splashdown of Dragon confirmed — welcome back to Earth, Nick, Suni, Butch and Aleks!” SpaceX wrote in a post at splashdown Tuesday, along with video of the capsule floating down under parachutes into the gulf.
Recovery personnel opened the Dragon capsule at 6:38 p.m. EDT, after it was hoisted aboard the recovery vessel. They greeted the astronauts, who “egressed” or exited about 10 minutes later.
Crew-9 Commander Hague was the first off the capsule, followed by Gorbunov. Both were put on stretchers to be checked out by medical personnel. NASA astronaut Williams was the next to exit, as she smiled and waved to the recovery crews, followed by Wilmore who gave a big thumbs-up.
“It is awesome to have Crew-9 home. Just a beautiful landing,” Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator of NASA Space Operations Mission Directorate, told reporters during a post-splashdown news briefing.
“Back in January, the president asked SpaceX what it would take to bring this crew home and I will tell you at the time that that question was asked, we were already looking at options,” Montalbano said.
“The International Space Station program, the commercial group program and SpaceX came up with the plan that we just witnessed,” he added. “On behalf of NASA, I want to thank the administration, I want to thank all the NASA teams and all the work of the SpaceX teams.”
Steve Stich, manager of NASA Commercial Crew Program, said they adjusted the timeline to Tuesday to align with better weather for a “really clean undocking, reentry and landing.”
“It was incredible. Clear skies, real low winds — maybe three or four knots of wind — and really calm seas. You could see the dolphins swimming around the capsule, which was really incredible,” Stich said, adding that the Dragon vehicle “performed really well.”
“Now it’s great to have Crew-9 and the Freedom capsule back home and its fourth flight is now in the history books. Of course, we’re overjoyed. I watched every crew member come out of the capsule post landing and watched Nick, Suni, Butch and Aleksandr come out of the Dragon and smile and wave,” Stich added. “They’re on the ship now and we’ll get them back to meet the NASA aircraft and back to meet with their families.”
The SpaceX Dragon capsule flew “autonomously” just before 6 p.m. EDT and before drogue parachutes, deployed at 18,000 feet, slowed the capsule to 119 mph. The spacecraft coasted to a successful splashdown minutes later.
“And splashdown! Crew-9 back on Earth! Butch and Suni, on behalf of SpaceX, welcome home!” was the call from mission control, which erupted in loud cheers.
The SpaceX recovery team sped on boats toward SpaceX Dragon after splashdown, as jet-skis picked up the parachutes from the mostly calm gulf. A pod of dolphins were seen swimming around the capsule as the recovery workers prepared the capsule to be pulled from the water.
SpaceX Dragon was hoisted out of the water and onto the recovery vessel at 6:24 p.m. EDT. It took some additional steps to reposition it before the crew could exit and be examined by doctors onboard.
Williams, Wilmore, Hague and Gorbunov undocked from ISS early Tuesday morning after conducting a series of leak inspections to ensure the safety of the spacecraft and their spacesuits.
The crew splashed down one day earlier than NASA had targeted due to “favorable conditions forecast for the evening of Tuesday,” according to the space agency, which expressed concerns about weather conditions later in the week.
Williams and Wilmore launched the first crewed test flight of Starliner, which Boeing had hoped would become a second vehicle for NASA, on June 5. They were scheduled to spend just eight days at ISS before heading back to Earth.
As Starliner approached the space station, five of the capsule’s thrusters malfunctioned and delayed the capsule’s docking. Helium leaks were also discovered in Starliner’s propulsion system. NASA returned Starliner to Earth unmanned in September after it was deemed too risky to carry the astronauts.
SpaceX Dragon docked to ISS on Sunday with Crew-10 NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov as they begin a six-month mission to conduct science experiments.
Williams and Wilmore spent 286 days in space, which is among the longest single space missions in NASA history. The longest, with the record of 371 days, is held by astronaut Frank Rubio.
During her time on ISS, Williams conducted two spacewalks, which pushed her total spacewalk hours to more than 62. That is a new NASA record for total spacewalking time by a woman. This was her third visit to ISS.
Wilmore served as part of Expedition 41 to ISS in 2014. This was his second visit to the space station.
Both Williams and Wilmore have claimed repeatedly that they were not “stranded” in space, but found their extended stay on ISS “interesting.”
“Every day is interesting because we’re up in space and it’s a lot of fun,” Williams said.
NASA said Tuesday the agency will celebrate Crew-9’s successful splashdown as it moves forward with plans to launch Crew-11 as early as mid-July.
“We’ll work hand-in-hand with Boeing as well on certification of Starliner, getting that vehicle back to flight,” Stich added.
“Butch and Suni’s return on Dragon shows how important it is to have two different crew transportation systems.”
