SpaceX Crew-9 Safely Returns NASA Astronauts to Earth After 9-Month ISS Odyssey

NASA and SpaceX celebrated the successful splashdown of the Crew-9 mission, as the Dragon spacecraft "Freedom" returned to Earth off Florida’s Gulf Coast near Tallahassee at 5:57 p.m. EDT. Carrying NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, the capsule touched down after a 17-hour journey from the International Space Station (ISS). The return marked the end of a nearly nine-month odyssey for Williams and Wilmore, whose stay was extended due to issues with Boeing’s Starliner, while Hague and Gorbunov completed a standard six-month rotation. Recovery teams swiftly retrieved the crew from the calm, dolphin-escorted waters, concluding NASA’s ninth commercial crew rotation with SpaceX and highlighting the duo’s resilience amid an unexpectedly prolonged mission.