After spending nine months on the International Space Station, NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have finally made it home.
The duo splashed down off the Florida coast aboard SpaceX‘s Crew Dragon capsule at 17:57 local time (21:57 GMT) on Tuesday.
Travelling back alongside fellow American Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, their capsule streaked through the atmosphere at hundreds of miles per hour.
It deployed parachutes prior to a soft splashdown where it was met by curious circling dolphins.
Suni and Butch exited their capsule disheveled but with big grins on their faces – even though their ISS stay was only supposed to be a mere eight days.
They spent a total of 286 days on the space station completing spacewalks, conducting experiments and vigorously exercising.
So what’s next for these two intrepid spacefarers?
As the two are medically evaluated before reuniting with their families, MailOnline takes a look at what they have in store.
NASA’s stranded astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have finally returned to Earth after spending nine gruelling months aboard the ISS. The return sparked scenes of jubilation as they exited their capsule, disheveled but with big grins on their faces
NASA astronauts Suni Williams, left, and Butch Wilmore stand together for a photo en route to the launch pad in June last year as they prepare to make their way to the ISS. They would be there nine months, despite believing it would only be an eight-day trip
Soon after touchdown off the Florida coast on Tuesday, a larger recovery vessel hoisted the SpaceX capsule aboard and teams opened the hatch to let the astronauts out one by one, assisted by mobility aids.
After medical checks, the team travelled by helicopter to a Florida airport where they boarded a flight to Houston’s Ellington Field, near NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
Further medical checks are set to be carried for days, where they will get used to life back on Earth with normal gravity.
Initially, the astronauts will spend the next few days being assessed by doctors at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
‘There, they can interact with their families and other NASA personnel while NASA flight surgeons monitor their progress as they readapt to the Earth’s gravity,’ a NASA spokesperson told MailOnline.
‘[This] is consistent with all post-flight rehabilitation periods for all returning International Space Station crews.’
Once cleared by NASA doctors, the crew members return home and begin fully reacclimating to life on Earth, the spokesperson added.
Butch and Suni will get some well-deserved time off back at home with their families – Suni in Needham, Massachusetts and Butch in Tennessee.
The duo spent a total of 286 days on the International Space Station (pictured), completing spacewalks and conducting experiments
A support team member works on the SpaceX capsule shortly after it landed with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov aboard as a dolphin swims past
Teams opened the hatch, and one by one, the astronauts were helped out onto mobility aids, smiling, waving and giving the thumbs-up. Pictured, Suni Williams gives a thumbs-up after being helped out of the SpaceX capsule
They will then start a 45-day reconditioning programme that will include two hours of physical therapy daily with specialized trainers, NASA said.
Most astronauts’ bodies recover within the 45-day period, which includes mobility and muscle strengthening tasks.
In space, people no longer need to work as hard to move around due to the low gravity – but this causes muscle ‘wastage’ or thinning.
The astronauts’ health may be monitored ‘for the rest of their lives’ the NY Post reports – but only time will tell whether they’ll be back for another space trip.
Both are already mission ‘veterans’ having endured stints in space before – and the nature of NASA’s roster means spacefarers often make return visits.
As well as its constant shuttling of crew to the ISS, NASA is looking towards the next two missions in its ambitious Artemis programme – Artemis 2 and 3.
Artemis 2 will send four astronauts on a trip around the moon and back home in 2026, while Artemis 3 will actually land humans on the lunar surface in 2027.
The crew for the Artemis III mission is yet to be revealed, although there’s no suggestion Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will be in any way involved after their protracted space mission that was fraught with uncertainty and technical troubles.
Wilmore and Williams spent 286 days stranded in space after propulsion issues with their Boeing Starliner craft greatly extended the initial mission length. Pictured, Starliner is lifted at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, April 16, 2024
Pictured, the four astronauts who will travel around the moon as part of the Artemis 2 mission. Victor Glover (second from left), 48, becomes the first person of color selected for a moon mission, while Christina Koch (second from right), 46, becomes the first woman. They will travel alongside Reid Wiseman (left), 49, from Baltimore, Maryland and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, 49 (right)
While other astronauts had stayed in space longer – Russia’s Valeri Polyakov holds the record for the longest single stay with 437 days – none have had to see the length of their mission expand more than Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.
The two arrived at the ISS in June in Boeing’s Starliner, but ongoing issues mean the botched craft wasn’t ready to fly home yet.
Both retired Navy captains, Wilmore and Williams said they didn’t mind spending more time in space – a prolonged deployment reminiscent of their military days – but acknowledged it was tough on their families.
In August, NASA announced that the agency had decided it was too risky to return Wilmore and Williams to Earth aboard Starliner and would instead be returned aboard Crew Dragon in February (later delayed to March).
Upon taking office in January, President Donald Trump called for a quicker return of Wilmore and Williams and alleged that former President Joe Biden ‘abandoned’ them on the ISS for political reasons.
However, Wilmore earlier this month told reporters on a call from the ISS that he did not believe NASA’s decision to keep them on the ISS had been affected by politics under the Biden administration.
As for NASA, the agency has continuously downplayed the impact of their extended stay on the basis that all astronauts are sufficiently trained and well-prepared for changing circumstances.
NASA said a post-landing news conference with the crew should happen ‘within a week or two of landing’.
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