Cliff Notes – NASA reveals what’s next for astronauts
- NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Earth after spending over nine months on the International Space Station, originally intended for an eight-day mission.
- Their capsule splashed down off the Florida coast, marking the completion of their journey, which included conducting numerous experiments and repairs aboard the ISS.
- The astronauts expressed satisfaction with their extended mission, which was necessitated by issues with their spacecraft, Boeing’s Starliner, as they awaited a replacement crew.
NASA reveals what’s next for astronauts after nine months stuck in space
Two NASA astronauts have splashed down off the coast of Florida after spending more than nine months stuck in space.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams waved as they left their capsule – nearly an hour after it returned to Earth. The four-person crew, formally part of NASA’s Crew-9 astronaut rotation mission, re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at about 5.45pm local time on Tuesday.
Dolphins were seen swimming nearby while work was under way to remove it from the water.
The astronauts’ journey back from the International Space Station took 17 hours.
Senior NASA administrator Joel Montalbano described the landing as “beautiful” – and said their 150 experiments and 900 hours of research will inform future moon missions.
“The crew’s doing great… eventually they’ll make their way back to Houston,” NASA manager Steve Stich said – telling reporters they’ll get some “well-deserved time off” with their families once debriefs are complete.
What happens next for the Astronauts
The astronauts will soon be flown to their crew quarters at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for several days of health checks, per routine for astronaut returns, before NASA flight surgeons allow them to go home to their families.
Living in space for months can affect the human body in multiple ways, from muscle atrophy to possible vision impairment.
Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams have logged 286 days in space on the mission – longer than the average six-month ISS mission length so they will have an extensive debrief as well as cataloguing events from space.
During their long wait in space, the two US Navy veterans completed spacewalks, experiments and even helped sort out the plumbing onboard the ISS.
Crew Dragon is America’s only orbital-class crew spacecraft, which Boeing had hoped its Starliner would compete with before the mission with Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams threw its development future into uncertainty.