An eight-day mission that turned into an agonizing eight month stay in the International Space Station has finally come to an end, as stranded astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are heading back to Earth.
Space.com reported:
“Wilmore, Williams, fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov departed the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule “Freedom” early Tuesday morning (March 18), setting up their splashdown off the coast of Florida later the same day.
The undocking occurred at 1:05 a.m. EDT (0505 GMT) as the two vehicles were 261 statute miles (420 kilometers) above Earth off the coast of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.
‘It was a privilege to call [the] station home, to live and work and be a part of a mission and team that spans the globe working together in cooperation for the benefit of humanity’, said Hague, Freedom’s commander. ‘Crew 9 is going home’.”
Experienced astronauts Wilmore and Williams were launched into space as the maiden crewed mission of Boeing’s Starliner, but the spacecraft presented multiple problems, leading to a decision to return the capsule empty to Earth.
What followed were a long period waiting for their ‘ride’ home, as the Joe Biden administration delayed the rescue mission because of political considerations.
Finally, incoming President Donald J. Trump tasked SpaceX owner (and DOGE head) Elon Musk with bringing the two astronauts back home ‘as soon as possible’.
“This plan called for Wilmore and Williams to ride home on Freedom, which launched to the ISS in late September on SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission. Freedom hauled up just Hague and Gorbunov — half of the usual Crew Dragon contingent — to save seats for the Starliner duo on the downward trip.
[…] Crew-9’s return to Earth was set in motion by the arrival of SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission, which docked with the ISS early Sunday morning (March 16).”
The astronauts also thanked President Trump and Elon Musk for saving their lives after the rescue.
This did not get much play in the far-left legacy media.
The Biden Stranded NASA astronauts have sent a thank you to Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
Surprise, surprise! The media never covered it…
pic.twitter.com/sggFKUkIuU— Chad Prather (@WatchChad) March 15, 2025
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The post Stranded for Nine Months in Space, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams Thank Elon Musk and President Trump – They Are Finally Heading Back to Earth Aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon ‘Freedom’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.