After a planned eight-day mission to the International Space Station turned into a nine-month ordeal for NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams, the duo finally returned to Earth in a SpaceX capsule on Tuesday.
Wilmore and Williams’ 286 days in space were 278 days longer than anticipated. It was 85 days less than the planned record of 371 days for an American astronaut in space by Frank Rubio in 2023. The world record for most days in space is 437 days and belongs to Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov aboard the Mir space station.
Welcome home, @AstroHague, @Astro_Suni, Butch, and Aleks! 🌎✨
— NASA Astronauts (@NASA_Astronauts) March 19, 2025
Crew-9 splashed down safely in the water off the coast of Florida near Tallahassee on Tuesday, March 18, 2025.
Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore have returned to Earth from a long-duration science expedition… pic.twitter.com/nWdRqaSTTq
After circling Earth 4,576 times and travelling 195 million kilometers, Wilmore and Williams were part of a four-member crew in the SpaceX capsule – known as Crew-9 – that splashed down off the coast of Tallahassee in the Florida Panhandle at 5:57 pm ET (1:57 AM Wednesday UAE time). Astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov were the other members of Crew-9.
Wilmore and Williams, nicknamed Butch and Suni, were left on the ISS after NASA deemed their faulty Boeing Starliner craft unfit to carry them back after the planned stay. The expedition had started on June 5. Their plight, at the age of 62 and 59, became a talking point across the globe. Both celebrated their last birthday (December 29 and September 19 respectively) away from their families in space.
SpaceX posted a video of the splashdown and tweeted: “Splashdown of Dragon confirmed – welcome back to Earth, Nick, Suni, Butch, and Aleks!”
Hague, the capsule’s commander, said after the splashdown: “What a ride! I see a capsule full of grins ear to ear.”
The duo, who have been to space before, quickly adapted to life as crew members at the ISS. They were involved in conducting experiments and fixing equipment. Williams even set a new record of spacewalking for a female astronaut – taking nine spacewalks that totalled 62 hours.
Their prolonged stay even caused a political controversy, with President Donald Trump blaming former President Joe Biden for delays in getting them down to Earth. Trump then asked Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, to accelerate the return plan.
On Wednesday, Musk tweeted: “Congratulations to the @SpaceX and @NASA teams for another safe astronaut return! Thank you to @POTUS for prioritizing this mission!”
Williams has Indian origin, and the Associated Press reported that crowds in Jhulasan, the ancestral home of her father, danced and celebrated in a temple and performed rituals during the homecoming. Tejal Shah, president of the World Hindu Council of America, told AP that prayers for Williams and Wilmore were offered up at 21 Hindu temples in the US in the months leading up to their return.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first world leaders to welcome Williams and other crew members back.
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