On March 18, 2025, NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore safely splash down on Earth aboard Dragon “Freedom” with Crew-9 astronauts Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov. The Starliner astronauts traveled to space on June 5th, 2024, aboard Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner capsule for a 10-day mission.
However, after NASA detected helium leaks and engine thruster issues aboard the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, the two astronauts were instructed to remain in space. The Starliner spacecraft later returned back to Earth without carrying any astronauts on board.
After staying for 286 days, the two astronauts joined the two Crew 9 astronauts to return to Earth. They are the first astronauts to travel; to space on a different space vehicle and return to Earth on a different commercial space vehicle. The Starliner Crew mate traveled on a Duo space mission but splashed down with an extra two astronauts from the ISS.
How the Starliner Astronauts survived in space and returned safely back to Earth
After the Boeing Starliner developed a critical fault, its passengers NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore remained aboard the International Space Station. They joined the rest of the crew members to conduct several scientific studies aboard the orbiting laboratory.
NASA reassigned the two astronauts to join SpaceX Crew 9 astronauts and safely turn to Earth. By standard, the Crew 9 astronauts were supposed to travel to space with four crewmates. However, two crew members were removed and only NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov flew to space aboard the mission.
The two stranded astronauts occupied the two vacant seats as they commenced their return trip to Earth. Crew-9 glorious return trip commenced early this morning at 1:05 a.m. EDT (0505 GMT) with the undocking of the Freedom spacecraft from the space-facing port on the ISS’s Harmony module.
The entire world celebrated this splashdown as the astronauts went from a 10-day mission to spending 9 months in space. The splashdown off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. The safe splashdown occurred at exactly 5:57 p.m. EDT (2157 GMT) on March 18.
They are the first astronauts to splash down on this region since President Trump issued an executed order renaming it to the Gulf of America. Moments before the splashdown occurred, the SpaceX Freedom capsule deployed its three large pMarcharachutes.
What’s Next After The Splashdown?
Upon splashdown, the four astronauts were assigned to climb out of the SpaceX Dragon Capsule. They received a heroic welcome and were immediately given short medical checks. The crew would then be carried by helicopter offshore.
From that point, the four astronauts were flown to Ellington Field in Houston aboard a Gulfstream jet. NASA’s standard protocol mandates the astronauts to remain in crew quarters located at NASA’s Johnson Space Center for days.
During this period, the flight surgeons will carry out several medical checks on them. These medical team will also help the astronauts get back on their feet again. When the flight surgeons are satisfied that the crew can go home, they will certainly release them to their families. The crew will likely spend a few days at this facility before rejoining their families.
While the Crew 9 astronauts have returned to Earth, some other astronauts remained in space. These remaining crew will continue conducting several experiments for humankind. Astronauts left in space include Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin, Kirill Peskov, and Ivan Vagner, NASA astronauts Don Pettit, Anne McClain, and Nichole Ayers, and JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi. These astronauts will continue to conduct scientific research aboard the orbiting laboratory to advance space exploration.
