NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams return to Earth

NASA astronauts return to earth

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have safely returned to Earth after an unexpected nine-month stay in space due to issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Originally planned as a one-week mission, the astronauts spent 286 days aboard the International Space Station, orbiting Earth 4,500 times and traveling 121 million miles. FOX 5's Linda Schmidt has the amazing story.

NEW YORK - NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are back on Earth. NASA and SpaceX's Crew-9 mission successfully splashed down into the Gulf of America, off the Florida Coast on Tuesday evening. It comes nearly 10 months after Williams and Wilmore launched to the International Space Station aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.

Watch again: Crew-9 splashes down off Florida's coast

NASA astronauts return to Earth

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have returned to Earth after being stuck in space for more than nine months. Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico early Tuesday evening, just hours after departing the International Space Station.

Here is the moment that SpaceX's Dragon capsule deployed the iconic parachutes that helped guide the capsule to a successful splashdown off of Florida's coast, near Tallahasee.

What time did Crew-9 return to Earth?

Crew-9 splashed down around 5:57 p.m. after a 17-hour journey from the International Space Station, NASA said.

Astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore exit Crew-9 capsule

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are back on Earth. NASA and SpaceX's Crew-9 mission successfully splashed down into the Gulf of America, off the Florida Coast on Tuesday evening.

Here’s what you need to know about their journey home:

Who was aboard Crew-9?

There were four astronauts part of the Crew-9 mission:

NASA astronaut Suni Williams
NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore
NASA astronaut Nick Hague
Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov

Who is Suni Williams? Who is Butch Wilmore?

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are two NASA astronauts. Both were part of the inaugural mission of Boeing's Starliner to the International Space Station. Boeing's Starliner experienced issues before, during, and after successfully arriving at the ISS, mainly hydrogen issues.

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Boeing's Starliner eventually left the ISS and returned to Earth uncrewed – meaning, without Williams or Wilmore due to safety concerns. Starliner made it back to Earth successfully and without issue, officials said.

FILE - NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Commander Butch Wilmore (L) and Pilot Suni Williams walk out of the Operations and Checkout Building on June 5, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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Williams and Wilmore then joined SpaceX's Crew-9 mission. Their planned week-long mission became a nearly 10-month-long stay aboard the ISS.

Suni Williams became an astronaut in 1998. She is married to her husband, Michael. Both of them have dogs, according to her official NASA bio.

Butch Wilmore has been part of three spaceflights, including Russian Soyuz in 2014 and space shuttle Atlantis in 2009. He is married to Former Miss Deanna Newport. The two share two children.

The backstory:

Wilmore and Williams were originally expected to return just a week after launching on Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule on June 5, 2024. However, multiple problems delayed their trip to the space station, and NASA eventually sent Starliner back empty, transferring the pilots to SpaceX. This pushed their return to February, with further delays caused by SpaceX capsule issues.

The arrival on Sunday of their relief crew meant Wilmore and Williams could finally leave. NASA cut them loose a little early, given the iffy weather forecast later this week. They left with NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov, who arrived in their own SpaceX capsule last fall with two empty seats reserved for the Starliner duo.

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Dig deeper:

Wilmore and Williams quickly became full crew members, conducting experiments, repairing equipment, and even spacewalking together. Williams set a record for the most time spent spacewalking by a female astronaut, with 62 hours over nine spacewalks. Both had previously lived aboard the station and refreshed their training before launching. Williams became the station's commander three months into their stay and held the role until earlier this month.

Big picture view:

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 members pose together for a portrait inside the vestibule between the International Space Station and the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft. (NASA)

While other astronauts have logged longer spaceflights over the decades, none had to deal with so much uncertainty or see the length of their mission expand by so much.

Both retired Navy captains, Wilmore and Williams stressed they didn’t mind spending more time in space — a prolonged deployment reminiscent of their military days. But they acknowledged it was tough on their families.

Wilmore, 62, missed most of his younger daughter’s senior year of high school; his older daughter is in college. Williams, 59, had to settle for internet calls from space to her mother. They’ll have to wait until they’re off the SpaceX recovery ship and flown to Houston before the long-awaited reunion with their loved ones.