A veteran space astronaut, Sunita Williams, was back on Earth on Wednesday when SpaceX’s Dragon Freedom capsule landed off the Florida coast. The ship touched down at 3:27 am IST, bringing to an end an unexpected nine-month sojourn in space for Williams and her NASA partner Butch Wilmore. Both of them had initially flown up last June on Boeing’s Starliner capsule on what was meant to be an eight-day trip. But technical issues with Starliner’s propulsion system stranded them on board the International Space Station (ISS).
At splashdown, the capsule was picked up by a recovery vessel, and the hatch was opened for the first time since the previous September. Commander of Crew-9 Nick Hague emerged first, helped by ground staff, followed by Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Williams emerged last, smiling and waving, as she was assisted out, reintroducing herself to Earth’s gravity after months of microgravity. Wilmore emerged last from the Dragon.
The safe return of the astronauts was greeted with applause, and to their astonishment, a pod of dolphins welcomed the capsule at splashdown. The crew departed the ISS at 1:05 am EDT on Tuesday after a 17-hour flight back to Earth. They will proceed to Houston for a 45-day rehabilitation process.
SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, was tasked with the successful recovery aboard the Dragon capsule, fired into space on a Falcon 9 rocket. Crew-10 has now taken over at the ISS.
The White House, in a statement, attributed the success to President Donald Trump keeping his promise of bringing the astronauts home, stating on X: “PROMISE MADE, PROMISE KEPT.”
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