After spending more than nine months orbiting Earth, two U.S. astronauts finally returned home on March 18, splashing down at 5:57 p.m. EDT off Florida’s Gulf coast. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore emerged from the SpaceX Dragon capsule that carried them home, smiling, waving and giving thumbs up. Now they’ll undergo a battery of tests to find out how the longer-than-expected space stay has impacted their health.
The pair left on June 5 for what was supposed to be an eight-day mission to the International Space Station. But the Boeing Starliner that the duo launched in — the spacecraft’s first flight test with crew — experienced technical issues as it neared the ISS. Williams and Wilmore had planned to return to Earth aboard the vehicle, but NASA delayed their flight, bringing back a crewless Starliner.