Nasa astronauts return to Earth after months on ISS

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have returned to Earth safely after being stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) for more than nine months.

Two Nasa astronauts that were stuck onboard the ISS for over nine months have been rescued and safely returned to Earth. They were left stranded in space in June 2024 after Boeing’s Starliner capsule failed due to technical issues.

Four astronauts returned back down to Earth in a SpaceX Dragon capsule this week. These were Starliner’s original test pilots Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, as well as Nicholas Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov. Their vessel landed in the Gulf of Mexico at 5.57 ET after a 17-hour descent.

Williams and Wilmore were only meant to be on the ISS for ten days, and were evaluating the Starliner capsule’s docking and operational capabilities. It was supposed to be the Starliner’s first crewed flight and return home.

Problems and safety concerns lead to a decision to bring Starliner back to Earth completely empty in September, which meant the astronauts stay onboard the ISS would be extended. SpaceX’s Dragon capsule was called ‘Freedom’ and brought the astronauts back home.

All four could be seen on Nasa’s live footage hugging and posing for photos with colleagues from the ISS before entering the capsule for final pressure and communications tests.

The entire ordeal became wrapped in political narratives surrounding the Trump and Biden Administration’s, as the event took place across both terms. Elon Musk – SpaceX founder and Trump loyalist – accused the Biden regime of ‘abandoning’ the astronauts, despite no evidence to suggest this was the case.

Trump, meanwhile, insisted that the long-scheduled routine crew rotation flight was a ‘special rescue mission’ ordered by the White House. Again, this was seemingly not true.

These incidents follow numerous spats between Musk and other experienced astronauts and space experts. Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen called Musk a liar, and pointed out that the return flight had been scheduled since September.

In retaliation, Musk called him ‘fully retarded’ on his social media platform X.