Two NASA astronauts left stranded in space for nine months after a Boeing spacecraft malfunction finally made their journey home Tuesday in a SpaceX capsule, with President Trump saying that they had been “virtually abandoned” by the Biden administration.
The SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, along with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, departed from the International Space Station at 1:05 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, and splashed down off Florida’s coast at around 6 p.m.
SEE IT! Moment stranded astronauts brought back to Earth after they were abandoned by President Biden pic.twitter.com/2X7DqcKqqU
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 18, 2025
What was initially planned as an eight-day mission aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft launched on June 5 turned into a nine-month ordeal when the capsule experienced multiple helium leaks and thruster malfunctions.
NASA ultimately deemed the troubled Starliner too risky for a crewed return journey, sending the spacecraft back to Earth empty while leaving Williams and Wilmore to be incorporated into the space station’s regular crew.
In January, Trump said he asked SpaceX founder Elon Musk to “go get” the astronauts whom he characterized as having been “virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration.”
Musk claimed in February that he had offered to bring the astronauts home early “months ago,” but that the Biden administration “refused,” delaying the pair’s return for “political reasons,” which NASA officials have denied.
During their extended stay, Williams and Wilmore completed several critical spacewalks and conducted over 200 scientific experiments. The pair, both experienced astronauts with previous space missions, adapted to their unexpected long-term assignment while maintaining a rigorous work schedule aboard the station.
Boeing’s Starliner program has been plagued by delays and technical issues, with Reuters reporting “$1.5 billion in cost overruns beyond its $4.5-billion NASA development contract” for little results compared to SpaceX, which received $2.6 billion in comparison and has dominated the industry for years.
President Trump celebrated the news on Truth Social, writing on Monday, “[A]fter eight long months for a mission that was supposed to be eight days, IT IS TIME. I look forward to seeing Butch and Suni, and thank you again to NASA and Janet Petro!”