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A pair ofNASAastronauts stuck on board theInternational Space Station(ISS ) for more than nine month have finally returned to Earth .
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams plash down near the glide of Florida on board aSpaceXDragon space capsule at 5:57 p.m. ET on Tuesday ( March 18 ) . NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov were also part of the four - person crew repay 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 meet with cheers from charge control as their ejection seat voyage safely into the ocean . Williams and Wilmore appear to be in just wellness and eminent smell as their commission , planned to last just eight years but extend tonearly 300 , finally ended .
" Nick , Alex , Butch , Suni — on behalf of SpaceX , welcome home , " mission comptroller declared on aNASA live stream .
" What a ride , " commander Nick Hague suppose after landing . " I see a condensation full of grinning , 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 arrived at the ISS as part of Boeing ’s first Starliner Crew Flight Test . Boeing ’s space vehicle blare off on itsinaugural crewed trial run flightfrom Florida ’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 5 , 2024 .
But not long after the spacecraft entered orbit , a phone number of subject cropped up — including fivehelium leaksand five loser of its reaction control organisation thrusters — that led to themission ’s abandonment .
The retort flying , part of NASA ’s scheduled rotary motion between the ISS ' Crew-9 and Crew-10 missionary work , also included Hague and Gorbunov — half of the usual gang detail , to allow outer space for Wilmore and Williams .
Aerial footage of the Dragon crew capsule descending toward Earth on Tuesday
Related : NASA offer SpaceX $ 843 million to put down the International Space Station
The SpaceX Dragon space capsule carrying the crew undock from the ISS ' Harmony module at 1:05 a.m. EDT before embarking on its 17 - hour voyage home .
" We ’ll miss you , but have a great journey menage , " NASA astronautAnne McClain , pronounce aboard the space place as the capsule carrying Williams , Wilmore and the other two astronauts pulled away 260 miles ( 418 klick ) above the Pacific Ocean .
Before the Crew-10 gyration , Wilmore and Williams expend their time aboard the ISS performing a numeral of criminal maintenance tasks and enter in scientific projects .
Their stop has been largely safe but not all without incident . On June 27 , a defunct Russian satellitebroke apart in domain , sending detritus toward the ISS and draw Williams and Wilmore , along with the other seven astronauts on board at the time , to take covering inside their respective blank space capsules .
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The Starliner astronauts'286consecutive days in place isnowhere near the current recordof 437 Clarence Day , set by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov in 1995 . But it ’s still a long — and all unexpected — extension of the astronauts ' teddy aboard the ISS .
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