SRINAGAR: NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore returned to Earth on Tuesday after spending over nine months aboard the International Space Station (ISS) due to unexpected delays. Their spacecraft, SpaceX’s Dragon Freedom capsule, successfully splashed down off the Florida coast near Tallahassee at 5:57 p.m. ET (3:27 a.m. IST, Wednesday).
Williams and Wilmore were originally scheduled for a shorter stay but remained on the ISS longer than planned. They were joined on their return by NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Grebyonkin, who had arrived at the ISS in December as part of a NASA-SpaceX rescue mission.
“On behalf of SpaceX, welcome home,” SpaceX Mission Control in California radioed to the crew.
An hour after their 17-hour journey back to Earth, the astronauts emerged from their scorched capsule, waving and smiling at the cameras before being assisted into reclining stretchers for routine medical checks.
Williams, visibly elated, beamed with joy as she stepped out of the capsule, marking the end of her extended mission.
