Two Nasa astronauts stuck in orbit for nine months are finally back on Earth after splashing down in a SpaceX craft, capping a saga that captured international attention and marked a setback for Boeing’s space business.
After departing the International Space Station earlier on Tuesday, the SpaceX capsule carrying Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams and two other crew members fired its engines to reduce its velocity and lower its orbit, positioning itself to hurtle through Earth’s atmosphere.
Later, two sets of parachutes deployed to slow down its descent before the craft splashed down off the Florida coast at about 6pm local time.
After undergoing standard medical checks, the crew members will board a flight to Houston, where they will be reunited with their families.
“On behalf of Crew-9, I’d like to say it was a privilege to call the station home, to live and work and to be a part of a mission and a team that spans the globe, working together in cooperation for the benefit of humanity,” astronaut Nick Hague said as the capsule undocked. “Crew-9 going home.”
Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams arrived at the ISS last June on a Boeing spacecraft with plans to spend roughly a week in space. But that brief trip turned into roughly nine months when Nasa decided in August the pair would come home on a rival SpaceX capsule instead, due to technical issues with their Boeing vehicle.
Their saga became an international spectacle, with some media outlets dubbing them the “stranded” astronauts — a nod to Nasa’s reluctance to have them fly home in their original spacecraft. The ordeal put an embarrassing spotlight on Boeing’s struggling space business after the company was rocked by a series of crises that forced a change in senior leadership.
In parallel, their story has highlighted how dependent Nasa has become on SpaceX to keep the agency’s major human spaceflight programs up and running.
The astronauts’ extended stay in orbit also triggered political point-scoring at the highest echelons of the US government. President Donald Trump accused former president Joe Biden’s administration of virtually abandoning them, and SpaceX chief Elon Musk claimed that Mr Biden’s team left them in space for political reasons.
Nasa and SpaceX representatives would not confirm Mr Musk’s specific claim during a press conference this month. Steve Stich, Nasa’s commercial crew programme manager, said the agency looked at a range of options and worked with SpaceX to determine the best way to bring the astronauts home.
The situation drew particular attention in India, where Ms Williams has ties and which has an ambitious space programme of its own. In Jhulasan, the home village of the astronaut’s father in the state of Gujarat, worshipers at a Hindu temple and children at the local school spent much of Monday and Tuesday praying for Ms Williams to return safely. - Bloomberg
