Astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams returned to Earth on Tuesday in the SpaceX capsule after spending more than nine months at the International Space Station (ISS) due to issues with a Boeing spacecraft that could not bring them back a week after their arrival in June.
The Dragon "Freedom" they returned in successfully completed a soft landing with its parachutes deployed off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, at the scheduled time and received applause at the operations center. A team from SpaceX and NASA, along with dolphins, assisted the astronauts at the time of landing.
Nick Hague, Aleksandr Gorbunov, Barry Wilmore, and Sunita Williams returned in the "Freedom" after getting to the ISS last September. The return journey took approximately 17 hours from undocking from the space station.
The delay of Wilmore and Williams at the ISS posed a challenge for NASA, Boeing, and SpaceX, but it was not considered a rescue, rather part of the testing of NASA's commercial program. Williams and Wilmore, who have been involved in various scientific activities, will have to deal with possible effects such as loss of bone and muscle mass, changes in vision, and alterations in the cardiovascular system, but NASA has implemented a protocol to mitigate these effects.
Boeing's Starliner capsule, intended to compete with SpaceX, experienced issues upon arriving at the ISS in June 2024 and had to return to Earth as a precaution. After the successful splashdown in Florida, SpaceX plans to receive crews in the Pacific Ocean as a new alternative to the usual landing site.