NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Earth after spending nine months on the International Space Station. It was supposed to be an eight-day mission but hit a snag.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Two NASA astronauts are back on Earth after an extended stay on the International Space Station. Their mission was set to last only eight days, but Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams ended up spending nine months in orbit. Central Florida Public Media’s Brendan Byrne has more on the astronauts’ 286 days in space.
BRENDAN BYRNE, BYLINE: It was a picture-perfect return as the SpaceX Dragon capsule gently splashed down under a canopy of four parachutes just off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.
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SANDRA JONES: And splashdown – Crew 9 back on Earth.
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BYRNE: But their mission wasn’t as smooth as their return. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at the station back in June in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, designed to take astronauts to and from the station. It was a test flight, but during their arrival, the crew encountered problems with the spacecraft’s thrusters. Starliner docked successfully, but NASA decided it wasn’t safe enough to take them home. Instead, they went with another company, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, for the return journey. Starliner was sent back to Earth without a crew in August, and an already planned crew mission flew to the station in September with only two of its four seats taken by NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Aleksandr Gorbunov. The empty seats were for Wilmore and Williams. The four returned home together.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Nick, Alek, Butch, Suni, on behalf of SpaceX, welcome home.
BYRNE: During their extended stay, Wilmore and Williams became part of the station crew, conducting 150 unique science experiments and multiple spacewalks. NASA’s Steve Stich says, despite the mission not going as originally planned…
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STEVE STICH: You know, Butch and Suni’s return on Dragon, to me, shows how important it is to have two different crew transportation systems.
BYRNE: NASA says Boeing is committed to flying Starliner again, although when that will happen and whether or not it will carry a crew is still unclear.
For NPR News, I’m Brendan Byrne in Orlando.
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