Two Nasa astronauts have returned to Earth after an unexpected nine-month stay in space, landing safely off the coast of Florida in a SpaceX capsule following a mission that was meant to last only a few days but turned into a prolonged ordeal due to technical issues. A SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship carrying Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams\u2014alongside fellow American Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov\u2014streaked through the atmosphere before deploying parachutes for a gentle splashdown off the Florida coast at 5:57 pm (2157 GMT). Ground teams erupted in cheers as the gumdrop-shaped spacecraft, named Freedom, charred from withstanding scorching temperatures of 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (2,000 degrees Celsius) during re-entry, bobbed steadily on the waves beneath a clear, sunny sky. Fast boats raced to the capsule for initial safety checks, soon to be followed by a recovery vessel that would retrieve the crew before they were flown to Houston to begin a 45-day rehabilitation programme. “What a ride\u2014I see a capsule full of friends here,” Hague said. The quartet left the International Space Station roughly 17 hours earlier after exchanging final farewells and hugs with remaining crew members. Wilmore and Williams, both ex-Navy pilots and veterans of two prior space missions, flew to the orbital lab in June last year on what was supposed to be a days-long round trip to test out Boeing\u2019s Starliner on its first crewed flight. But the spaceship developed propulsion problems and was deemed unfit to fly them back, instead returning empty. They were subsequently reassigned to Nasa’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission, which arrived at the ISS last September with a reduced crew of two\u2014rather than the usual four\u2014to accommodate the pair, who had become widely referred to as the “stranded” astronauts. Early Sunday, a relief team called Crew-10 docked with the station, paving the way for the Crew-9 team to depart. \u2018Unbelievable Resilience\u2019 Wilmore and Williams\u2019 286-day stay exceeds the usual six-month ISS rotation but ranks only sixth among US records for single-mission duration. Frank Rubio holds the top spot at 371 days in 2023, while the world record remains with Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent 437 consecutive days aboard the Mir station. That makes it “par for the course” in terms of health risks, according to Rihana Bokhari of the Centre for Space Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. Challenges such as muscle and bone loss, fluid shifts that can lead to kidney stones and vision issues, and the readjustment of balance upon returning to a gravity environment are well understood and effectively managed. “Folks like Suni Williams are actually known for their interest in exercise, and so I believe she exercises beyond what is even her normal prescription,” Bokhari told AFP. Still, the unexpected nature of their extended stay\u2014away from their families and initially without enough packed supplies\u2014has drawn public interest and sympathy. “If you found out you went to work today and were going to be stuck in your office for the next nine months, you might have a panic attack,” Joseph Keebler, a psychologist at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, told AFP. “These individuals have shown unbelievable resilience.” Trump Weighs In Their unexpected stint also became a political lightning rod, with former President Donald Trump and his close adviser, Elon Musk\u2014who leads SpaceX\u2014repeatedly suggesting that President Joe Biden abandoned the astronauts and refused an earlier rescue plan. Such accusations have prompted an outcry in the space community, especially as Musk offered no specifics and Nasa\u2019s plan for the astronauts\u2019 return has remained largely unchanged since their Crew-9 reassignment. Trump has also drawn attention for his bizarre remarks, referring to Williams, a former Navy captain who holds the US record for the second-longest cumulative time in space, as “the woman with the wild hair” and speculating about the personal dynamic between the two. “They\u2019ve been left up there\u2014I hope they like each other, maybe they love each other, I don\u2019t know,” he said during a recent White House press conference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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