NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have successfully returned to Earth following the safe splashdown of their Crew 9 Dragon Spacecraft off the coast of Florida. As a result of significant reductions in body mass and muscle density experienced during their time in space, both astronauts will require a rehabilitation period of 45 days to readjust to life on Earth. Throughout this rehabilitation phase, their health will be meticulously monitored to ensure there are no issues related to vision, muscle atrophy, balance, or bone density.
Although both NASA astronauts spent nine months in space, the administration decided not to rush the mission, but instead reassigned them to SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission, which arrived at the ISS last September. The Crew-9 mission was reduced from four astronauts to two to make room for Williams and Wilmore. Crew-9 said a warm goodbye to colleagues on the ISS on Sunday morning after the arrival of their replacements, Crew-10.
Congress on Wednesday welcomed NASA astronaut Sunita Williams’ return to Earth after a lengthy mission to the International Space Station and noted that her impressive resilience is a deep source of inspiration for space fans around the world.
NASA astronauts Williams, Nick Hague and Butch Wilmore, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov, returned to Earth on Wednesday morning aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which landed at sea off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.
For Williams and Wilmore, test pilots on Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, the eight-day mission was delayed by more than nine months due to a series of helium leaks and engine failures that deemed their spacecraft unsafe. The ship returned without them last September.