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A couplet ofNASAastronauts stuck on board theInternational Space Station(ISS ) for more than nine calendar month have finally return to Earth .
spaceman Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams swash down near the seacoast of Florida alongside aSpaceXDragon abridgement at 5:57 p.m. ET on Tuesday ( March 18 ) . NASA cosmonaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov were also part of the four - person gang return to Earth Tuesday .
A SpaceX crew Dragon capsule bobs in the ocean near Florida, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams, Nick Hague, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov following a 17-hour journey from the International Space Station.
The astronauts were fulfil with cheers from mission control as their capsule sail safely into the ocean . Williams and Wilmore appeared to be in good wellness and mellow spirits as their mission , planned to last just eight days but extend tonearly 300 , finally terminate .
" Nick , Alex , Butch , Suni — on behalf of SpaceX , welcome rest home , " missionary station control declared on aNASA resilient stream .
" What a ride , " commander Nick Hague said after landing . " I see a ejector seat full of grins , ear to ear . "
The Dragon capsule deploys its parachutes, slowing its descent to just 16 mph before splashing down in the ocean.
A long journey
Wilmore and Williams arrive at the ISS as part of Boeing ’s first Starliner Crew Flight Test . Boeing ’s spacecraft blasted off on itsinaugural crewed trial flightfrom Florida ’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 5 , 2024 .
But not long after the ballistic capsule entered orbit , a issue of issues cropped up — including fivehelium leaksand five failure of its reaction control system thrusters — that led to themission ’s desertion .
The return flight , part of NASA ’s scheduled rotation between the ISS ' Crew-9 and Crew-10 missions , also included Hague and Gorbunov — half of the common crew detail , to set aside space for Wilmore and Williams .
Aerial footage of the Dragon crew capsule descending toward Earth on Tuesday
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The SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying the bunch undocked from the ISS ' Harmony module at 1:05 a.m. EDT before embarking on its 17 - time of day voyage home .
" We ’ll miss you , but have a great journeying base , " NASA astronautAnne McClain , said aboard the space post as the space capsule extend Williams , Wilmore and the other two astronaut pulled aside 260 mile ( 418 kilometers ) above the Pacific Ocean .
Before the Crew-10 gyration , Wilmore and Williams spent their metre aboard the ISS performing a bit of maintenance undertaking and participate in scientific undertaking .
Their stay has been largely secure but not entirely without incident . On June 27 , a defunct Russian satellitebroke apart in orbit , get off detritus toward the ISS and forcing Williams and Wilmore , along with the other seven astronauts on board at the time , to take concealment inside their respective space capsules .
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The Starliner astronauts'286consecutive days in outer space isnowhere near the current recordof 437 Clarence Day , adjust by Russian spaceman Valeri Polyakov in 1995 . But it ’s still a foresighted — and completely unexpected — extension of the astronauts ' shift aboard the ISS .
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