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NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were on their way home Tuesday after being stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) orbital laboratory for 286 days.
Their return is thanks in no small part to the combined drive and ambition of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to “go get them.”
The pair decided to accelerate the astronauts’ return and laid the blame for their troubles on the tardy Biden administration.
The replacement crew’s brand new SpaceX capsule still wasn’t ready to fly, so SpaceX subbed it with a used one, hurrying things along by weeks.
This image taken from NASA video shows the SpaceX capsule carrying NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, and Russian astronaut Alexander Gorbunov, before undocking from the International Space Station on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (NASA)
UPI reports the pair of astronauts along with Crew-9 members NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov were aboard the SpaceX capsule as it detached from the ISS at 1:05 a.m. EDT, putting them on the 17-hour flight back to Earth.
The SpaceX Dragon is expected to splash down off the coast of Florida at about 5:57 p.m. EDT on Tuesday.
Following months of delays and Trump last month asking ally and SpaceX CEO Musk to “go get” them, Williams and Wilmore are being delivered to their starting point.
Rescue Mission! SpaceX Dragon Craft Docks with International Space Station to Retrieve Astronauts
As Breitbart News reported, in a viral video shared by both Trump and Musk, the astronauts thanked the dynamic pair for their unstinting support in bringing them back to Earth after their troubles began with a bungled Boeing test flight more than nine months ago.
The 286 days Williams and Wilmore spent in space is among the longest single space missions in NASA history, but well behind the record of 371 days held by astronaut Frank Rubio.
The successful return of the astronauts, both retired Navy captains, will mark another milestone for Musk’s SpaceX and his close working relationship with the president.
Both astronauts have thanked Musk and Trump for their efforts.
❤️🚀🚀❤️
pic.twitter.com/aAkJRKsu1Q— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 16, 2025
The company has been instrumental in providing reliable transportation to and from the ISS, ensuring the continuity of human spaceflight missions.
During their stay, Williams performed two spacewalks, both in January, which pushed her cumulative spacewalking hours to more than 62 — a new NASA record for total spacewalking time by a woman.
