SpaceX Crew Dragon brings astronauts home after extended ISS stay

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Photo / Getty Images

• Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore landed on Earth in a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
• Their mission faced technical difficulties and became a political issue, with Donald Trump criticising Joe Biden.
• Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov also returned, marking the end of the “Crew-9” mission.

Nine months after they departed on the Boeing Starliner, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have finally landed back on Earth on a SpaceX Dragon capsule.

Astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov were also in the capsule.

Wilmore and Williams’ homecoming caps an end to a drawn-out mission which was marred by technical difficulties and recent months turned into a political flashpoint, with Donald Trump blaming the Biden administration for “abandoning” the astronauts.

Splashdown of Dragon confirmed – welcome back to Earth, Nick, Suni, Butch, and Aleks! pic.twitter.com/M4RZ6UYsQ2

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 18, 2025

Dressed in their re-entry suits, boots and helmets, Williams and Wilmore were seen on Nasa’s live footage laughing, hugging and posing for photos with their colleagues from the station shortly before they were shut into the capsule for two hours of final pressure, communications and seal tests.

“Crew-9 is going home,” said commander Nick Hague from inside the capsule as it slowly backed up and away from the station shortly after 1am ET.

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25 minutes until ‘capsule lift’

A series of checks have been carried out and the next phase is called “rigging”.

It will be around 25 minutes until the capsule is lifted onto the recovery vessel.