Crew 9 on the International Space Station

SpaceX Splashdown Ends 9-Month Mission, Astronauts Head to Houston

Boeing Starliner’s Failure Stretches a Brief Trip

Late Monday night on March 17, NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore climbed aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, their ticket home after an unforeseen nine-month stay on the International Space Station (ISS). What began as a brief mission last June 5 aboard Boeing’s Starliner stretched into a 286-day adventure—one of NASA’s longest unplanned stays—when the spacecraft’s helium leaks and thruster failures deemed it too risky for their return. On Tuesday, March 18, they touched down off Florida’s coast, closing a chapter marked by resilience and adaptation.

The trouble started last summer when Starliner, meant for an eight-day trip, faltered en route to the ISS. Four more of its 28 thrusters failed by docking, prompting NASA to return the craft to Earth remotely. “Space flight is risky, even at its safest,” Administrator Bill Nelson said, explaining the call to bring Starliner back uncrewed. “The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the ISS is a result of a commitment to safety.” Boeing’s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, vowed to address the issues, but NASA opted for SpaceX instead.

SpaceX Crew Dragon’s Rescue Takes Flight

Williams and Wilmore, now full ISS crew members, joined NASA’s Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who’d arrived last September 29 on the Crew-9 mission with two empty seats reserved for their return. The quartet sealed the hatch at 10:05 p.m. Houston time Monday, donned flight suits, and ran through checklists. At 12:05 a.m. Tuesday, the Crew Dragon undocked, its computer guiding a 17-hour descent. After an hour and 40 minutes of maneuvers, the spacecraft lined up for splashdown.

Just before 5 p.m. Houston time, the Crew Dragon Freedom pierced Earth’s atmosphere, its red-and-white parachutes blooming against a sunlit sky near Tallahassee. The capsule hit the water at 4:57 p.m., a picture-perfect landing. Within 30 minutes, recovery crews hoisted it onto a ship, positioning it for the crew’s exit. By 5:57 p.m., all four—Williams, Wilmore, Hague, and Gorbunov—stepped out, greeted by a doctor for standard medical checks. Soon, they’d board a flight back to Houston, where friends and family awaited their reunion.

Houston Homecoming Caps an Unexpected Journey

This wasn’t the mission they’d planned. Williams, a NASA veteran since 1998 with nine spacewalks, and Wilmore, a shuttle alum from 2009, expected a quick test flight. Instead, they logged 900 hours collectively and 150 experiments. “We come prepared. We come committed,” Wilmore said from the ISS on February 13, pushing back on any sense of being stranded.

Their replacements—Crew-10’s Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Kirill Peskov, and Takuya Onishi—arrived last Friday, trimming the usual five-day handover to four for weather timing. Hague and Gorbunov, after 171 days aloft, piloted the return, proving SpaceX’s ninth long-duration ISS mission a lifeline when Boeing faltered.

A side note briefly stirred the narrative: President Donald Trump, in a February 18 TV interview, said he’d urged Elon Musk to speed up the rescue, hinting at delays. Musk agreed, claiming an earlier return was possible. Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen countered on X: “What a lie,” noting the September plan held firm. Williams and Wilmore, in a March 4 ISS news conference, shrugged it off. “We have no information on that,” Wilmore said, focusing on their preparedness.

As the recovery ship steadied the capsule Tuesday afternoon, the spotlight returned to Williams and Wilmore—two astronauts who turned an eight-day test into a near-year triumph. Now, after medical clearance and a flight home, they’ll step off a plane in Houston, their unexpected odyssey complete, proving human spaceflight’s grit under a dome of blue skies. Stay tuned to HoustonCityBeat.com for more space updates.