After a headline-making nine months in space, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have finally made it back to Earth.
On Tuesday, March 18, the pair started their journey back home alongside fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. The successful splashdown came hours after the astronauts, known as SpaceX Crew-9, undocked from the International Space Station “right on time” at 1:05 a.m. ET.
NASA and SpaceX’s official X accounts confirmed the safe arrival with footage of the capsule splashdown at around 6:00 p.m. local time. The video showed the capsule with four white and orange parachutes deployed gently landing and resting upright in the ocean.
“Splashdown of Dragon confirmed – welcome back to Earth, Nick, Suni, Butch, and Aleks!” SpaceX wrote.
NASA added“Splashdown confirmed! #Crew9 is now back on Earth in their @SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.”
A press conference for SpaceX Crew-9 is expected to be held on Tuesday around 7:30 p.m. local time.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams; Crew 9 undocking from the Space Station.
NASA HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock; NASA
This latest launch comes after a new crew arrived at the ISS on Friday, March 14, to take over.
The new crew, part of a joint SpaceX and NASA mission, consists of astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, along with mission specialists JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
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(Clockwise from left) NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague and Suni Williams with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
NASA
Wilmore and Williams’ return comes after nine months in orbit and several delays to return them home. The pair arrived at the ISS in June 2024, originally expected to stay in space for no more than 10 days.
However, after their spacecraft encountered mechanical issues, their return was delayed. After weeks of troubleshooting, the spacecraft was sent back to Earth without them. Since then, their return home has continually been pushed back and become politically charged, with President Donald Trump blaming their lengthy stay in space on his predecessor.
Meanwhile, Hague and Gorbunov arrived at the ISS in September.
(L-R) Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams in June 2024.
Joe Raedle/Getty
Throughout their extended stay in space, the astronauts celebrated multiple holidays, including Thanksgiving and Christmas — and the Americans even voted in the 2024 U.S. elections.
Both Williams and Wilmore have also spoken out about spending so many months at the ISS.
Speaking with a group of Needham High School students in January, Williams said that it came “a little bit of a shock.”
“We knew that it would be probably a month or so, honestly. But the extended stay was just a little bit different,” she said, according to WBZ-TV. “I haven’t walked. I haven’t sat down. I haven’t laid down. You don’t have to. You can just close your eyes and float where you are right here.”
(L-R) Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams in Aug 2025.
NASA HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Weeks later, Wilmore told CNN‘s Anderson Cooper that despite the “stranded” rhetoric, they haven’t felt “abandoned.”
“We don’t feel stuck, we don’t feel stranded,” he said.
“If you’ll help us change the rhetoric, help us change the narrative, let’s change it to ‘prepared and committed,’ ” he continued. “That’s what we prefer.”
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Williams echoed the sentiments in a separate press conference earlier this month. “Every day is interesting because we’re up in space and it’s a lot of fun,” she said. “The hardest part is having the folks on the ground have to not know exactly when we’re coming back.”
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