Panelists Ned Ryong and Tomi Laren “congratulate and cheer on the return of NASA astronauts who were left behind in “Editing the Evening.”
A pair of NASA astronauts, who had been stuck in space for more than nine months, returned to Earth Tuesday and landed in the US Bay off Tallahassee, Florida, to end an unexpected Odyssey.
Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 62, and 59-year-old Sniwilliams returned home after a new crew had replaced them, and two other astronauts arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) over the weekend.
The four-person crew-10 carried by SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft early Sunday met the ISS where Willmore and Williams lived since planning a mission that was about a week long in June 2024.
“On behalf of SpaceX, Welcome Home” and California's SpaceX Mission Control have been made into radio.
“What a ride,” replied NASA astronaut Nick Hague, commander of the capsule.
The SpaceX Dragon Capsule is a parachute to the US Gulf off Florida on Tuesday. (SpaceX/NASA)
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NASA said it is aiming to be a crew consisting of Willmore and Williams astronaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, the Hague and Roscosmos astronauts, in addition to Wilmore and Williams, to return to Earth on Tuesday evening.
The crew “heard by ear,” The Hague said after returning home.
At a post-landing press conference with SpaceX and NASA officials on Tuesday, NASA Space Operations Commission's Deputy Administrator Joel Montalvano was asked about President Trump and Elon Musk's allegations that the Biden administration did not want to bring back Starliner crews for political reasons.
“Yeah, so I wasn't involved in any conversations with the previous administration,” Montalvano said. “It's clear that there was a demand from the current administration, and the results you saw are what you saw today with the landing of Crew-9.”
NASA astronauts arrive in Florida after being left behind in space.
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. (Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP Getty Images / Getty Images)
According to the US Space Agency, the planned arrival “giving the space station crew time to complete handover duties and provide operational flexibility ahead of the expected whimsical weather conditions later in the week.”
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SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft has been on the ISS ever since carrying Hague and Gorbunov in late September.
Wilmore and Williams expected to leave about a week after launch. Boeing's new Starliner Crew Capsule June 5th.
A lot of problems occurred on the way to the space station, and NASA eventually brought Starliner back into the sky, moving the test pilot to SpaceX, pushing homecoming up in February. The SpaceX Capsule issue then added another month's delay.
SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft will be seen as NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Roscosmos Cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov landed on Tuesday on aboard the waters off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida. (Keegan Barber/NASA via Getty Images/Getty Images)
The arrival of rescuers on Sunday meant Wilmore and Williams Finally you can leave
SpaceX said the spacecraft planned to “do multiple orbital degradation operations, dump the trunk and re-enter Earth's atmosphere for splashdown.”
The ISS is surrounded by the globe from around 250 miles above.
The Spacex Dragon Capsule will splash out in the US Bay off Florida on Tuesday. (SpaceX/NASA)
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft that led Wilmore and Williams into space last summer was originally scheduled to have “helium leaks” and “spacecraft reaction control thrusters” as “helium leaks” and “spacecraft reaction control thruster problems” approached the ISS at the time, NASA said.
According to NASA, the space agency and Boeing have decided in early September that Starliner will return to unmanned Earth in early September, and that “continue to “collect test data” on the spacecraft.” Also, Wilmore and Williams became members of the then Crew 9 and scheduled them to return at the same time as The Hague and Golbunov.
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Willmore were Boeing Starliner capsule flight crews recovering from a series of issues. (NASA/Getty Images)
Williams' trips with Willmore and Boeing spacecraft were to serve as a test flight to “test the Starliner spacecraft and its subsystems,” as part of the certification process to participate in NASA's commercial crew program, the space agency said in June 2024.
SpaceX, part of NASA's commercial crew program, has implemented 10 operational human spaceflight missions, including the launch of 10 of the best crew members that will allow Wilmore and Williams to return home by bringing new astronauts to ISS staff.
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President Donald Trump is using the long space stints of astronauts to criticize former President Joe Biden and his administration.
According to NASA and SpaceX, the journey to resurrection of Wilmore, Williams, The Hague and Golbunov, which was expected to take about 17 hours after the dragon left the ISS, was expected to take about 17 hours.
