NASA astronauts return from the long space station.

Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore have returned to Earth after a nine -month stay at the International Space Station, a trip that lasted much more than originally planned thanks to the leaks and wearing problems of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that used to get there.

Williams and Wilmore splashed in the Gulf of Mexico in a Spacex dragon capsule at 5:57 pm et on Tuesday, after a 17 -hour return trip from the ISS.

His return marks the end of one of the chapters of strangers in the recent history of space flights, thanks to the problems experienced by Boeing Starliner and the way in which the CEO of Spacex, Elon Musk, has politicized the return of the astronauts.

Williams and Wilmore initially launched into the International Space Station (ISS) in June 2024 as part of a mission that was crucial for Boeing's attempt to compete against Spacex. The aviation giant won a contract with Spacex in 2014 to send astronauts to the ISS for NASA with the eye of bringing them even further to the solar system.

Spacex made its first crew flight with its crew dragon space in 2020, during the first days of the Covid pandemic. Meanwhile, the Boeing Starliner project was dragged by excess costs and delays.

The flight was supposed in June 2024 would help Boeing look beyond all that. The goal was to send Williams and Wilmore to the ISS and then bring them back home after a brief stay. But Starliner experienced problems before they even attract with the ISS. Once they finally got on board, NASA and Boeing spent a few weeks doing tests before deciding to return Starliner without astronauts.

NASA quickly started working with Spacex in a plan to bring Willams and Wilmore back. After a little round trip, they decided to wait until the beginning of 2025 to take the duo home so that the ISS was not a short staff.

However, in recent months, Musk has affirmed (without providing any evidence) that offered to bring astronauts home before, and that former President Joe Biden rejected the offer because he would help his political rival Donald Trump.

The former administrator and administrator of the NASA under Biden has both saying The space agency was not aware of any offer. CNN reported on Tuesday That the High officials of the White House also claim that they were not aware of any offer.

Look at the team go back to earth:

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This story was updated to include a video of astronauts that return.