The Dragon spacecraft has successfully splashed down, marking the return of NASA astronaut Sunita Williams along with Crew-9 members Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov after spending nearly nine months in space, SpaceX confirmed.
Following the landing, NASA astronaut Nick Hague was the first to communicate with mission control. Although the audio was somewhat unclear, Hague could be heard saying that the crew was “grinning ear to ear,” CNN reported.
“Splashdown of Dragon confirmed – welcome back to Earth, Nick, Suni, Butch, and Aleks!” SpaceX announced in a post on X.
Safe Landing and Recovery Operations
NASA commentator Sandra Jones described the landing scene as breathtaking, stating:
“There’s just breathtaking views of a calm, glass-like ocean.”
Rescue ships operated by SpaceX are now en route to retrieve the spacecraft. A rig aboard one of the vessels will soon lift the capsule from the water and place it in the Dragon’s nest for further processing. Moments before touchdown, Crew Dragon deployed its parachutes, slowing its descent to less than 20 miles per hour, CNN reported.
Following the splashdown, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston will focus on helping the astronauts re-adapt to Earth’s gravity. The crew will first undergo medical checks aboard the rescue ship, followed by continuous monitoring in the coming days and weeks. Later today, the Crew-9 team will be transported to NASA’s Houston facilities for further medical evaluations.
Addressing Speculation on Extended Stay
The return of Crew-9 has been widely anticipated, particularly due to the extended duration of Williams and Wilmore’s mission. However, both astronauts have dismissed speculation that they were “abandoned,” “stuck,” or “stranded.”
“That’s been the narrative from day one: stranded, abandoned, stuck — and I get it, we both get it,” Wilmore told CNN in February. “Help us change the narrative, let’s change it to: prepared and committed despite what you’ve been hearing. That’s what we prefer.”
Their prolonged mission drew significant media attention, but NASA has maintained that safety was always the top priority.