NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams return to Earth after 9 months stuck in space

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Earth on Tuesday, closing a saga that began with a bungled test flight more than nine months ago.

Their SpaceX capsule flew down into the Gulf of Mexico in the evening, a few hours after leaving the International Space Station, ending 286 days in space from what was supposed to be just a week-long mission due to problems with their Boeing Starliner capsule.

A replacement crew with NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov flew up on a SpaceX capsule last fall with two empty seats to bring Wilmore and Williams back to Earth.

“On behalf of SpaceX, welcome home,” radioed SpaceX Mission Control in California as the crew stepped out of the capsule.

“What a ride,” replied Hague, the capsule’s commander. "I see a capsule full of grins ear to ear".

'Nine months in the making'

During their mission, Wilmore and Williams circled Earth 4,576 times and travelled 195 million kilometres by the time of splashdown. Williams even set a record on the flight for the woman with the most time spacewalking in their career.

Wilmore and Williams quickly transitioned from guests to full-fledged station crew members, conducting experiments, fixing equipment, and doing spacewalks together.

“This has been nine months in the making, and I couldn’t be prouder of our team’s versatility, our team’s ability to adapt and really build for the future of human spaceflight,” NASA’s commercial crew programme manager Steve Stich said.

Wilmore and Williams will have to wait until they’re off the SpaceX recovery ship and flown to Houston before reuniting with their loved ones.

The three NASA astronauts will be checked out by flight surgeons as they adjust to gravity, officials said, and should be allowed to go home after a day or two.

The Starliner is still under an engineering investigation, according to the AP. So SpaceX will launch the next crew for NASA as soon as July.