NASA astronaut Sunita Williams return: Watch moments before and after SpaceX Crew-9's landing on Earth

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams returned to Earth on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship ‘Freedom’, alongside fellow American Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

Watch moments before and after SpaceX Crew-9's landing on Earth

NASA and SpaceX's Crew-9 astronauts streaked through the atmosphere before deploying parachutes for a gentle splashdown off the Florida coast at 5:57 pm (3:30 am IST) on March 19.

Drogue and main parachutes were deployed before the splashdown off the coast of Florida near Tallahassee.

After the slow splashdown, the Crew-9 had some "surprise visitors": A pod of dolphins.

As they landed on Earth, recovery teams helped the crew out of Dragon, a standard process for all crew members after returning from long-duration missions. NASA shared first look of the Crew-9 astronauts after the successful splashdown.

After an unexpected nine-month stay in space, a pair of NASA astronauts finally returned to Earth on Tuesday, concluding a mission that gripped global attention and became a political flashpoint.

Ground teams erupted in cheers as the gumdrop-shaped spacecraft named Freedom, charred from withstanding scorching temperatures of 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (2,000 degrees Celsius) during re-entry, bobbed steadily on the waves beneath a clear, sunny sky.

"What a ride — I see a capsule full of grins," said Hague.

"PROMISE MADE, PROMISE KEPT," the White House posted on X, repeating a contentious claim that President Donald Trump had accelerated the recovery timeline.

NASA astronauts ‘stuck’ in space

Wilmore and Williams, both ex-Navy pilots and veterans of two prior space missions, flew to the ISS in June 2024, on what was supposed to be a days-long roundtrip to test out Boeing's Starliner on its first crewed flight.

But the Starliner spaceship developed propulsion problems and was deemed unfit to fly them back, instead returning empty.

They were subsequently reassigned to NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 mission, which arrived at the ISS last September with a reduced crew of two — rather than the usual four — to accommodate the pair, who had become widely referred to as the "stranded" astronauts.