Summary
We’re wrapping up our coverage of the highly publicized and very politicized return of Nasa astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who ended up staying on the International Space Station for nine months after what they thought would be a quick mission of less than two weeks. Here are the key points:
A SpaceX capsule holding the two astronauts, as well as Nasa’s Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, splashed down successfully off the coast of Florida at about 5.57pm EST on Tuesday.
The capsule’s photogenic landing, on an exceptionally calm and sunny day, was capped off with the appearance of several dolphins who swam around the bobbing spacecraft. Read Richard Luscombe’s detailed account here.
The four astronauts emerged, grinning, from the space capsule onto the recovery vessel, and then were taken for medical evaluation. They were slated to fly by helicopter to Florida, and then to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where they would be reunited with their families and continue to adjust to their return to Earth.
At a Nasa press conference in Houston, Nasa administrators largely dodged questions about the truth of Trump and Musk’s claims about the astronauts having been “stranded” or “abandoned” by the Biden administration, as well as Musk’s suggestion that Trump deserved credit for “prioritizing this mission”. One official said Nasa was responsible for safe missions and doing science in space, not for what is said in the media.
But Nasa officials did emphasize that they saw value in working with multiple private contractors, both Boeing and SpaceX, to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station, and that Boeing, despite problems with its previous mission, remained committed to its spaceflight program.
The Guardian’s Michael Sainato had an inside look at Nasa workers’ concerns at coming cuts at the government agency and the role of Elon Musk, currently the most powerful member of Trump’s administration, who also owns SpaceX, a private space company and major government contractor.
Meanwhile, if you’re wondering what exactly is happening to the astronauts as their bodies adjust to earth after nine months in space, my colleague Helen Sullivan has the answers.
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Why had Nasa not pushed back “more emphatically” against the use of astronauts as “political pawns” by prominent space contractors, and against the “fictitious narrative” that was “woven around” this mission, particularly since these space missions are actually funded by the public, a British journalist from the Times asked.
“Our job at Nasa is to successfully and safely fly these missions. We fly it with the laws of physics and we fly it with commercial partners. Oftentimes, there may be [information] out in the press that may not be exactly what happens. Our job is to fly these missions,” Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator of Nasa’s space operations mission directorate, said, emphasising that Nasa wanted to focus on completing the important scientific research they do in space.
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Another question: will there be any psychological studies of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to evaluate the effects not just of a prolonged stay in space, but an unexpected and more uncertain one?
All crew members go through lots of surveys and evaluations, and Bill Spetch, operations integration manager of Nasa’s International Space Station program. “There’s always adjustments we have to make,” Spetch said, emphasizing that many space flights have last-minute changes that astronauts have to adapt to.
The New York Times’ Kenneth Chang asked a direct question: as Trump and Musk claim victory for “rescuing” the two astronauts, and Musk said that Trump had prioritized the mission, was it the case that anything would have actually gone differently in the return mission’s timing if Kamala Harris had been elected president?
Nasa works for the president, and they work hard to carry out the directives of whoever is president, said Joel Montalbano, the deputy associate administrator of Nasa’s space operations mission Directorate, not really answering the question.
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Nasa officials have continued to emphasise that they see value in having multiple commercial contractors working to transport astronauts back and forth to the International Space Station, and that both Boeing and Musk’s SpaceX are important partners going forward.
Yes, in this case, Stich said, there was a problem with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, and SpaceX brought the astronauts home.
“Someday there may be a case where we’re using [Boeing’s] Starliner to handle a [SpaceX] Dragon contingency,” added Stich, the manager of Nasa’s commercial crew program.
When a journalist pressed on whether Boeing was really committed to continuing its spacecraft program, given its tremendous cost, Stich said he believed the company was.
“Boeing all the way up to their new CEO Kelly [Ortberg] has been committed to Starliner. I can see that in how they’re approaching their solution to the problems,” he said.
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A reporter has finally asked Nasa officials the obvious: how did rhetoric about the astronauts being “stranded in space”, from people like Elon Musk and Donald Trump, affect Nasa and the actual mission?
Stich, the manager of Nasa’s commercial crew program, mildly talks around this question, saying: “We looked for opportunities to bring the crew back when it was safe to do so.”
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Nasa's Steve Stich praises Wilmore and Williams' adaptability
Steve Stich, the manager of Nasa’s commercial crew program, said that the incredible adaptability of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, in pivoting from serving on what they thought would be a short-term mission to becoming longer-term members of the ISS crew, is a good sign of astronauts’ preparation for future space exploration. He mentioned in particular possible “harsh” missions to the surface of Mars, as well as missions to the moon.
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Boeing also had a watch party for the splashdown and are “keenly interested” in Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams’ return and have been texting him about it, Steve Stich, the manager of Nasa’s commercial crew program, said.
This comment is interesting because it comes more than nine months after the failure of Boeing’s pioneering Starliner capsule scuppered the two astronauts’ originally scheduled week-long mission, as my colleague Richard Luscombe explained.
Both Boeing and SpaceX, which is owned by Elon Musk, are major space contractors that work with the US government and the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX, Musk’s company, is the one that worked with Nasa to bring the astronauts home today.
Williams and Wilmore arrived at the ISS on 6 June last year, intending to stay long enough to evaluate Starliner’s docking and operational capabilities during its first crewed flight and return home no more than 10 days later. But a series of technical issues and safety fears led Nasa and Boeing to send the capsule back to Earth empty in September, and extend the pair’s stay by making them crew members onboard the space station in place of two other astronauts still on the ground, who were reassigned to other, future missions.
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“You could see the dolphins swimming around the capsule, which was kind of incredible,” Steve Stich, manager of Nasa’s commercial crew program, says, echoing many other observers of the landing.
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Nasa press conference: 'It's awesome to have Crew-9 home'
“It is awesome to have Crew-9 home. Just a beautiful landing,” Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator of Nasa’s space operations mission directorate, says as an opening. (We are not expecting much news from this press conference, so this comment is pretty much on track for that.)
“SpaceX has been an incredible partner,” Montalbano adds, suggesting this mission is a great example of the power of Nasa’s public-private partnerships.
Again, more context on the behind-the-scenes status of the Nasa-Space X relationship:
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We’re standing by for Nasa’s post-splashdown news conference, which is scheduled to start shortly at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and is also being streamed on Nasa+.
We’re not expecting anything particularly shocking from a press conference about what appears to have been a pretty straightforward and successful landing. Here are the scheduled speakers:
Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator, Nasa’s space operations mission directorate
Steve Stich, manager, Nasa’s Commercial Crew Program
Bill Spetch, operations integration manager, Nasa’s International Space Station program
Sarah Walker, director, Dragon mission management, SpaceX
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Gravity may seem like a drag, but spending long periods of time without its grounding force can wreak havoc on your body, as my colleague Helen Sullivan reports.
Here’s more details on some of the physical symptoms the just-landed astronauts may be dealing with, particularly after the nine months that Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams spent in space.
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Nasa cuts raise fears of handing more influence to SpaceX owner Musk
The Trump administration’s decision to shutter two offices at Nasa risks “dramatically” increasing the costs of space exploration, while handing Elon Musk more influence over the agency, fired workers have warned.
Nasa’s office of technology, policy and strategy and office of the chief scientist provide independent analysis on key investments and strategies. Both are set to close, amid widespread cuts at the agency.
Workers inside the two offices told the Guardian these cuts would undermine the ongoing goals of manned missions to the moon and Mars – and raise questions over conflicts of interest for Musk, who remains CEO of SpaceX, the rocket and satellite giant, while leading the so-called “department of government efficiency”, or Doge, which has led the charge to cut back the federal government under Donald Trump.
“Musk wants to go to Mars. They need no detractors,” said one senior Nasa official. “The most independent and unbiased views on this come from these offices, not centers or directorates who don’t care as long as there is money flowing in.”
Returned astronauts receiving medical checks after being seen emerging from capsule
Nasa astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams are now back on Earth after an unexpected nine months in space, after what was supposed to be a space mission of about 10 days turned into a nearly year-long, highly politicized saga.
The astronauts returned to Earth alongside Nasa astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, on a 17-hour journey in a space capsule that splashed down off the coast of Florida about an hour ago.
All four astronauts were filmed grinning as they emerged from the recovered space capsule, as part of an hours-long Nasa live feed that chronicled every twist and turn of their largely on-schedule return to Earth.
You can read my colleague Richard Luscombe’s gripping full account of the astronauts’ return here, as well as taking in some of the broader political context of Nasa’s fraught position in a Trump administration determined to slash government jobs under the guidance of billionaire Elon Musk, who happens to own SpaceX, a private spacecraft company and major government contractor.
We’ll have more updates during a planned press conference in about 20 minutes.
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Butch Wilmore is final astronaut to emerge from Dragon capsule
Butch Wilmore, the fourth and last astronaut on board, is also out of the Dragon spacecraft. Now all of the astronauts are getting some medicals checks, before continuing on the final legs of their journeys.
Nasa’s live coverage will be wrapping up shortly, the live commenters have said.
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Suni Williams smiles as she emerges from capsule
Suni Williams is out of the spacecraft that has returned her to Earth. Like her fellow astronauts, Williams is all smiles after a 17-hour journey from the International Space Station. There are still several stages of her journey left, including a helicopter ride to an airport, and then a flight to Houston, where astronauts return to the Johnson Space Center.
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Nasa astronauts back on Earth after being stuck months on ISS: ‘grins, ear to ear’
Two Nasa astronauts stuck onboard the International Space Station (ISS) since June 2024 finally arrived back on Earth on Tuesday evening, more than nine months after the failure of Boeing’s pioneering Starliner capsule scuppered their originally scheduled week-long mission.
A SpaceX Dragon capsule containing four astronauts, including Starliner’s test pilots Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore, splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Tallahassee, at 5.57pm ET (9.57pm GMT) after a 17-hour descent.
After 286 days in space, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams are expected to finally emerge from the Dragon spacecraft very shortly. They’re the last two onboard.
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Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov is next
Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov has also emerged from the spacecraft, and is smiling and waving.
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Nick Hague is first to emerge from capsule
Nasa astronaut Nick Hague, grinning, has emerged from the spacecraft and is being wheeled to a medical examination onboard the recovery ship.
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As we wait for the emergence of Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams, two American astronauts who were stuck on the International Space Station much longer than expected, it’s worth considering all the reasons we’re watching a livestream of this return mission.
Yes, it’s a compelling human story. But we’re also witnessing a very choreographed day of political messaging for SpaceX, and its CEO Elon Musk, for the Trump administration, and for Nasa itself, which is occupying a somewhat precarious political position as a government agency in the new Trump-Musk era.
More from my colleague Michael Sainato on that:
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First images of Crew-9 back on Earth
“Smiles all around” as we get the first footage of Crew-9 astronauts back on Earth.
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The side hatch of the spacecraft has just been opened. We’re still waiting for sight of the returned astronauts inside.
When the astronauts exit shortly, it will be “the crew’s first breath of fresh air since boarding their ships at the start of their journeys last year”, SpaceX’s Kate Tice notes.
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We’re shortly going to see the four astronauts being escorted out of the spacecraft, and walk a short distance to where they’ll receive medical checks.
Some additional live footage of the dolphins that were spotted swimming around the downed spacecraft as it floats off the coast of Florida …
All those Lisa Frank dolphins. pic.twitter.com/EFn0libG8K
— Veronica (@maenadea) July 8, 2023
… just kidding: this is a dolphin illustration by the iconic 1980s/1990s American designer Lisa Frank. (It has been an eerily picture-perfect day, however.)
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The Dragon Freedom spacecraft has now been successfully lifted out of the water and placed into a “nest” on a recovery vessel, where it’s being repositioned slightly, and will also be rinsed off, to protect it from the corrosion of saltwater.
It’s been about 30 minutes since the splashdown.
Here’s the lifting in process:
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Here’s an image of a worker helping prepare the rigging on the just-landed capsule so it can be lifted out of the water:
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We’re expected to see the returned astronauts exit from the capsule shortly, Sandra Jones, a Nasa public affairs officer, notes as she narrates Nasa’s live feed.
The capsule will be lifted onto a “nest” on the recovery vessel, and then the astronauts will be able to exit.
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To add to the picture-perfect footage coming from Nasa right now, dolphins are swimming around the floating capsule as the recovery team prepares it to be hoisted onto the recovery ship.
“We’ve got a cute little pod of dolphins,” one live commenter adds.
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Astronaut Nick Hague says 'what a ride' and says capsule is 'full of grins'
My colleague Richard Luscombe, who is covering the mission from Florida, has more of the first reaction we heard from the returned astronauts:
“And splashdown. Crew-9 back on Earth. Nick, Aleksandr, Butch and Suni, on behalf of SpaceX, welcome home,” a voice from mission control said.
“What a ride. I see a capsule full of grins, ear to ear,” Nicholas Hague, the third American on board, replied.
We’ll have more from Richard soon.
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Key event
“Splashdown was nothing short of spectacular,” Nasa’s Jaden Jennings, a public affairs employees who is at the recovery site, tells viewers of Nasa’s live feed.
“A new core memory was made today,” Jennings added.
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The Dragon capsule is now being prepared to be brought onto the recovery ship, where astronauts will finally exit and receive medical checks before taking helicopters back to land and departing for Houston, according to the Nasa-Space X live feed.
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Another view of the splashed-down spacecraft, Dragon Freedom, floating off the coast of Florida, having returned four astronauts to Earth from the International Space Station.
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This is what the capsule that just landed off the coast of Florida looks like. Recovery vessels are arriving to do safety checks and pick up the astronauts.
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Shortly after the splashdown, we heard a crackly reaction that sounded like it was coming from inside the just-landed capsule of astronauts: “ … amazing … what a ride!”
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Big cheers on the Nasa livestream as a commentator announces: “Crew 9 back on Earth!”
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Capsule carrying four astronauts successfully splashes down off Florida
A capsule carrying four astronauts just successfully “splashed down” off the Florida coast, bringing an end to the dramatically prolonged journey of Nasa astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were stuck for more than nine months on the International Space Station.
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Crew 9 is “just minutes away from splashing down off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida”, per Nasa’s live feed.
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Viewers are cheering the footage of parachute deployment.
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The International Space Station will be celebrating a big milestone this November, Nasa’s Sandra Jones reminded listeners: 25 years of continuous human presence in space.
“If you’re younger than 25 years, you’ve never known a day when there hasn’t been a human living and working aboard the International Space Station, contributing to key science and research investigations that impact our lives here on Earth,” Jones said.
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We are really being given every detail of the astronauts’ return to Earth, including that they essentially just tightened their seatbelts for their return.
We recently heard on the live feed “tablets are secured, restraints are tight and visors down”, which was further explained by Kate Tice as meaning that “per their instructions, Crew 9 has now put away everything that is necessary in order to begin their re-entry”, including tightening their safety harnesses.
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Following along on the live narration of the mission, and wondering who is on screen providing the commentary?
On the left, it’s Kate Tice, quality systems engineering senior manager, SpaceX.
On the right, it’s Sandra Jones, public affairs officer, Nasa.
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Deorbit burn complete, says Nasa
The deorbit burn is complete, Nasa says.
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The tone of Nasa’s live coverage today is really striking: it’s being narrated in a way that sounds a lot like the move-by-move commentary of a sports game, complete with detailed information on the various “stats” of the four astronauts returning home to Earth.
The space-athletes commentary is mixed with a lot of highly technical information about what’s happening during every step of this return.
Compared with what else is going on in the news, this is some pretty high-level Theater of Government Competence.
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If you’re following along on Nasa’s live feed, you’re likely hearing a lot about the major events expected in the next hour. The first is the “deorbit burn”, expected around 5.11pm EST, which “helps get Dragon set up in the right trajectory to splash down in the gulf” shortly before 6pm EST.
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Gravity may seem like a drag, but spending long periods of time without its grounding force can wreak havoc on your body.
Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams will have spent more than nine months in space – and while it is not the most time a human has spent as an extraterrestrial (Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov spent 437 continuous days aboard the Mir space station) – most long space missions are a maximum of six months.
So what happens to a person’s body – and mind – back on Earth? My colleague Helen Sullivan has looked at just that, from gravity to the “overview effect”:
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The astronauts’ extended stay on the ISS became an opportunity for some political mischief, with Elon Musk, the SpaceX founder and Donald Trump acolyte, insisting without evidence they had been “abandoned” in space by the Biden administration.
Trump, in turn, has attempted to paint last week’s long-scheduled routine crew-rotation flight, carrying replacements for Williams and Wilmore, as a special rescue mission ordered by the White House.
Wilmore told reporters from space earlier this month that he believed Musk’s claim that Joe Biden had rebuffed an offer to bring them home last year was “absolutely factual”, while also admitting: “We have no information on … what was offered, what was not offered, who it was offered to, how that process went.”
Yet, in February he told CNN: “We don’t feel abandoned, we don’t feel stuck, we don’t feel stranded. I understand why others may think that … if you’ll help us change the rhetoric, help us change the narrative, let’s change it to ‘prepared and committed’, that’s what we prefer.”
Musk subsequently became embroiled in a public dispute with the Danish astronaut and space station veteran Andreas Mogensen, who accused him of lying, and pointed out that Tuesday’s return of Williams and Wilmore, alongside their ISS Crew 9 colleagues, had been scheduled as long ago as September.
In response, Musk posted to the X platform he owns that Mogensen was “fully retarded”, drawing him deeper into conflict with retired astronauts and ISS veterans and brothers Scott and Mark Kelly, who defended their European colleague.
The bad blood has continued, with Musk calling Mark Kelly, Democratic senator for Arizona, “a traitor” for visiting Ukraine and urging US military and humanitarian support for the country in its war against Russia; and the politician retorting that Musk is “not a serious guy”.
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Two US astronauts stuck after Boeing Starliner issues
The two US astronauts stuck on the ISS were meant to return home onboard a Boeing Starliner – but Nasa decided to move them on to a SpaceX-crewed flight instead due to “too much uncertainty” about the Starliner, which had problems after the capsule sprang small leaks and some of its thrusters failed.
Williams and Wilmore, two veteran astronauts, arrived at the ISS on 6 June as part of a crucial test by Starliner before it could receive Nasa approval for routine flights. However, their planned eight-day mission turned into a months-long stay after technical issues emerged, including reaction-control thrusters that failed during Starliner’s first docking attempt.
Four of the spacecraft’s five failed thrusters later reactivated in orbit, the Associated Press reported, adding that the thrusters are crucial for the spacecraft to back away from the ISS after undocking and for maintaining the capsule in proper position for the deorbit.
On 2 August, Boeing said in a blog post that it had conducted “extensive testing of its propulsion system in space and on the ground”.
The embattled manufacturer, which has struggled to compete with SpaceX and has taken in $1.6bn in losses on the Starliner program, added: “The testing has confirmed 27 of 28 RCS [reaction control system] thrusters are healthy and back to full operational capability. Starliner’s propulsion system also maintains redundancy and the helium levels remain stable.”
Describing the decision to bring the Starliner back uncrewed in September, Steve Stich, program manager for Nasa’s commercial crew program, said: “The bottom line relative to bringing Starliner back is … there was just too much uncertainty in the prediction of the thrusters … it was just too much risk with the crew.”
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When Williams, Wilmore, Hague and Gorbunov left the ISS, they were replaced by a new crew, whose arrival led to emotional scenes on Sunday.
A SpaceX capsule delivered four astronauts in a Nasa crew-swap mission that will allow Williams and Wilmore to return home after nine months on the orbiting lab. Williams said it was a wonderful day and “great to see our friends arrive”, speaking shortly after her colleagues emerged on to the orbital lab.
In a live video, Nasa astronaut and team commander Anne McClain said: “Hi, everybody down there on Earth. Crew 10 has had a great journey up here, about 28 hours to get back up to the space station. And I cannot tell you the immense joy of our crew when we looked out the window and saw the space station for the first time.”
She said: “You can hardly even put it into words … orbiting the Earth for the last couple of days, it has been absolutely incredible.”
McClain’s team were welcomed by the station’s seven-member crew, which included Wilmore and Williams, veteran astronauts and retired Navy test pilots who have remained on the station after problems with Boeing’s Starliner capsule forced Nasa to bring it back empty.
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Nasa astronauts expected to splash down just before 6pm Florida time
Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of two US astronauts – stuck for more than nine months on the International Space Station – returning to Earth today.
Nasa said it expects the astronauts to splash down off the Florida coast at approximately 5.57pm ET Tuesday (21.57 GMT). Favourable weather meant their expected re-entry was moved forward from Wednesday.
Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams are heading home with another American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft, which arrived at the ISS early on Sunday.
The duo had been on the ISS since June, after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing on its maiden crewed voyage suffered propulsion issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth.
On Sunday, Nasa said: “The updated return target continues to allow the space station crew members time to complete handover duties while providing operational flexibility ahead of less favorable weather conditions expected for later in the week.”
Nasa astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are also returning on the Dragon capsule, which undocked from the space station at 1.05am ET on Monday.
The final stages of their journey will be broadcast live on the new Nasa+ streaming service. We will have a live feed at the top of this live blog.
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