Dolphins Greet NASA Astronauts In Gulf Of Mexico As They Return From The ISS

Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore departed for the International Space Station on June 5, 2024, the third and final test of Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, and its first launch with a crew. The mission was only expected to last for eight days before the two returned to Earth, but due to problems with Starliner, the two remained on board about 9 months longer than they had planned.

The two astronauts have been clear that they were OK with the situation, and even got to participate in a record-breaking spacewalk while waiting for their ride home.

Nevertheless, NASA will be relieved to have the two safely back on Earth, after a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft returned them just off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico. The two were joined by Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov and NASA astronaut Nick Hague as they landed in the ocean at 5:57 pm EDT on Tuesday, March 18.

“We are thrilled to have Suni, Butch, Nick, and Aleksandr home after their months-long mission conducting vital science, technology demonstrations, and maintenance aboard the International Space Station,” NASA Acting Administrator Janet Petro said in a statement. 

Once splashdown had safely happened, the crew was greeted by a team of small SpaceX recovery vessels. At this point, a group of dolphins joined the party, surfacing near the capsule as the astronauts and cosmonaut prepared to climb out of their spacecraft and return to shore.

You can see the moment the hatch is opened and the four take their first breaths of fresh air in 9 months in the video below. After reaching the shore, the crew flew to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to reunite with their families.

While on board the ISS, the crew traveled an impressive 195,289,856 kilometers (121,347,491 miles), orbiting the Earth 4,576 times. Thanks to this extended mission, Wilmore has now logged 464 days in space, while Williams has logged 608.

“Per President Trump’s direction, NASA and SpaceX worked diligently to pull the schedule a month earlier. This international crew and our teams on the ground embraced the Trump Administration’s challenge of an updated, and somewhat unique, mission plan, to bring our crew home,” Petro added. “Through preparation, ingenuity, and dedication, we achieve great things together for the benefit of humanity, pushing the boundaries of what is possible from low Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars.”