19.03.2025 08:43
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore successfully landed off the coast of Florida with SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft after being stranded on the International Space Station for 9 months.
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who were stranded on the International Space Station for approximately 9 months, returned to Earth aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. Due to a malfunction in Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who were stranded on the International Space Station for about 9 months, completed their journey back to Earth. Along with Williams and Wilmore, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, which also carried NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, made a soft landing off the coast of Florida with the help of parachutes at 00:57 Turkish time, approximately 17 hours after leaving the ISS.
RESCUE MISSION SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED
With the astronauts' return to Earth, SpaceX's rescue operation was completed. Trump had asked Musk for help. In June, Williams and Wilmore went to the ISS for an 8-day mission but were unable to return to Earth due to a malfunction in Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, resulting in them being stranded on the ISS for about 9 months. U.S. President Donald Trump held the Biden administration responsible for the astronauts' inability to return to Earth and sought help from Elon Musk for the rescue operation. After sending astronauts to replace Williams and Wilmore to the ISS, SpaceX initiated the rescue operation for the stranded astronauts.