Stranded Astronauts
Return to Earth From Area Station
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NASA
After 286 days in house, two American astronauts who’ve been caught on the Worldwide Area Station since final spring are lastly again down on Earth.
Butch Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams splashed down softly off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida right now at about 5:58 PM ET, following a 19-hour journey in a SpaceX spacecraft, alongside astronauts Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov.
It was a clean arrival again to Planet Earth, with Dragon Freedom’s Crew-9 parachutes deploying 6,000 toes within the air, and the management room erupting in cheers as they splashed down into the water.
NASA
A aid crew arrived on the ISS Sunday, giving Butch and Suni the inexperienced gentle to move dwelling after 9 months spent in house. NASA even bumped up their return by a day to dodge some unfavorable climate later this week.
Wilmore and Williams, each take a look at pilots, had been solely presupposed to be in house for 8 days … they flew the Boeing Starliner as much as the ISS in June final 12 months, however as a consequence of thruster points and helium leaks, NASA determined to return the spacecraft to Earth fully empty — forcing the sudden staycation in house for Butch and Suni. They’ve been caught on the Worldwide Area Station ever since.
8/31/24
To be clear … they had been by no means really “stranded” — Butch and Suni had arrived on the ISS ready for an prolonged keep within the occasion one thing on the mission went sideways … because it did. NASA was contemplating whether or not the 2 may fly again on the Boeing Starliner, however NASA vetoed them getting on that return journey over security issues.
SpaceX
Then that they had the chance to return in September, however they opted to remain, because the SpaceX craft despatched up on the time saved 2 crew members off the flight, to provide Buch and Suni seats for the experience again … however that will have left no replacements on the ISS if that they had departed. In order that they stayed.
Welcome dwelling!
