NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore safely splashed down off the coast of Florida at around 3.30 am (IST) after staying for more than nine months on International Space Station (ISS), which was originally scheduled to be planned as an eight-day mission.
A 33-second video shared by NASA captured the moment SpaceX's Crew-9 capsule splashed down in Florida water with Dolphins surrounding it. The capsule, with three parachutes, landed safely in the Gulf of Mexico, which is now known as the Gulf of America, on Wednesday, March 19 (IST).
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore spent 286 days in space before finally returning to Earth, which was originally scheduled for about a week in orbit after launching aboard Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule on June 5 last year.
“And splashdown, Crew-9 back on Earth!” announced Sandra Jones on the official live stream, as cheers and applause erupted in mission control. “On behalf of SpaceX, welcome home.”
“Splashdown confirmed! #Crew9 is now back on Earth in their @SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.” NASA in a post on X.
Williams and Wilmore departed alongside Nasa’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov, who had arrived last fall in their own SpaceX capsule. The capsule carried two empty seats reserved for the Starliner duo.
After splashdown, the recovery NASA crew rushed to the sea in boats to inspect the crew-9 capsule, which was seen floating on water with dolphins surrounded by it. The capsule the floated onto a recovery ship and the astronauts began exiting one by one.
Williams smiled and waved, as she looked healthy and fine. The NASA astronauts were moved on stretchers and transferred to a medical facility for checkups. If everything goes as expected, they will soon be cleared to fly to Houston to reunite with their families.