NASA Astronauts Return After Nine-Month Space Mission

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are finally heading home after an unexpected nine-month stay aboard the International Space Station. Alongside teammates Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, they departed aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule early Tuesday. Their return follows a dramatic delay caused by a malfunction in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. The capsule is set to splash down off Florida’s coast around 5:57 p.m. ET. The mission, though prolonged, falls short of record-breaking space stays. Once back, the astronauts will undergo medical evaluations before returning to Johnson Space Center in Houston.