*White House writes on X after Sunita Williams returns home after 286 days stay in space*
RNS: After nearly nine months in space, astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have safely returned to Earth. The White House celebrated the successful mission, with a statement on X (formerly Twitter) declaring, “PROMISE MADE, PROMISE KEPT: President Trump pledged to rescue the astronauts stranded in space for nine months. Today, they safely splashed down in the Gulf of America, thanks to @ElonMusk, @SpaceX, and @NASA!”
The astronauts, who had been in space for 286 days, were aboard NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission. The capsule carrying them splashed down off the coast of Florida, marking the end of their extended stay aboard the International Space Station. NASA confirmed their return at 5:57 p.m. EDT, with the spacecraft making a fiery re-entry and parachutes deployed for a safe landing.
A surprising visual followed as a pod of dolphins circled the capsule before recovery teams arrived to safely retrieve the astronauts. Williams and Wilmore travelled over 121 million miles, completing 4,576 orbits around Earth during their mission.
The duo’s stay in space was extended after propulsion issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in June 2024. The successful mission was the fourth flight of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which has previously supported several missions under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, claimed that his company had previously offered to bring the astronauts home earlier, but the request was reportedly rejected under the Biden administration due to political reasons. Musk, a known supporter of President Donald Trump, reiterated the astronauts were only meant to stay for eight days.
NASA’s Crew-9 mission completes its ninth commercial crew rotation, and SpaceX is now preparing the spacecraft for future missions.
