NASA Astronauts Return from Extended ISS Mission
- Dogeon Lim
- Apr 8
- 2 min read
April 8, 2025
Dogeon Lim
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore got international attention as their planned short mission in space extended into more than nine months and finally returned to Earth on the coast of Tallahassee, Florida on 18 March.
After 286 days at the International Space Station, which lasted 278 days longer than originally planned, they finally arrived at their home safely. They arrived at the ISS(International Space Station) on 5 June last year, planning to stay long enough to test Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on its first crewed flight and return home no more than 10 days later. However, the Boeing Starliner capsule which they rode had technical issues with its thrusters and NASA considered it dangerous to carry the astronauts back to Earth so they only sent the capsule back to Earth empty. Eventually, their eight-day mission turned into a nine-month space journey.
Thankfully, a SpaceX Dragon capsule containing 4 astronauts, including them, splashed down on the Earth, at 5:57 pm, local time, after a long 17-hour descent. And there was a surprise gift as the world welcomed them: after they landed, a pod of curious dolphins greeted them.
The spacecraft slowed down from 17,000mph (27,359 km/h) when it entered the atmosphere and emerged into a clear blue Florida sky with 4 parachutes by a gentle splashdown on a place where NASA commentator said a “calm, glasslike ocean.”
According to NASA Chief Surgeon Dr. Stephen Gilmore: “They will need about 45 days to acclimatize because they have been in space for a long time” and “They will also participate in various scientific studies related to space stays.”
