SpaceX Dragon successfully splashes down, returning NASA astronauts back to Earth

The two NASA astronauts whose eight-day stopover on the International Space Station (ISS) turned into a nine-and-a-half-month mission are finally back on Earth.

On Tuesday at 5:57 pm EDT, SpaceX Dragon Freedom splashed down off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, carrying Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams and Butch Wilmore along with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

It was an idyllic day for a return to Earth Tuesday, with the astronauts splashing down to 78 degrees Fahrenheit weather. A pod of curious dolphins was also seen swimming around the capsule as ground crews were preparing the capsule to be opened after landing.

The capsule was eventually brought out of the water and placed on a recovery ship where the astronauts finally got to have their first breath of fresh air in over nine months.

Williams and Wilmore had in June 2024 performed the first astronaut-crewed flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule. What was expected to be a weeklong trip to the ISS instead turned into a nine-month stay. The Boeing Starliner that was expected to carry them home after about 10 days experienced issues, leaving the pair at the station for months.

Early Tuesday morning, the SpaceX Dragon carrying Williams, Wilmore, Hague and Gorbunov undocked autonomously from the ISS at 1:05 a.m. ET and began its 17-hour journey back to Earth.

As the Dragon separated from the ISS, the Crew-9 and ISS astronauts shared farewells and well wishes over the radio. Dragon commander Nick Hague told the ISS crew, “On behalf of Crew-9, I’d like to say it was a privilege to call station home. To live and work and be a part of a mission and a team that spans the globe working together in cooperation for the benefit of humanity.”

Their return spacecraft maneuvered in space, moving above and behind the station, before firing a series of departure burns that sent it back toward Earth.

After it completed its journey from the ISS and prepared for re-entry, the Dragon performed a deorbit burn using its Draco thrusters to change the vehicle’s course and put it on the proper path for re-entering Earth’s atmosphere and landing at the designated location off the coast of Florida.

After the burn, the Dragon began its re-entry, a period where the spacecraft is subjected to extreme heat, up to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit and drag. To keep the astronauts safe, Dragon employs a heat shield to keep it from burning up during re-entry. The drag helped slow down the vehicle, so it was safe to deploy its parachutes.

Dragon then used two sets of parachutes to slow it down further before splashing down.

The first two drogue chutes, also called drag chutes, are designed for high speeds and were deployed at approximately 18,000 feet while the craft traveled at nearly 350 miles per hour.

That slowed down the vehicle significantly but not enough for a safe landing. At about 6,000 feet, the four main parachutes deployed successfully and slowed the spacecraft to a safe 15 miles per hour before it splashed down off the coast of Tallahassee.

ABC News’ Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.

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