After nearly eight months aboard the International Space Station (ISS), four astronauts returned safely to Earth this Friday. The mission had been extended due to delays involving Boeing’s Starliner capsule and complications from Hurricane Milton. The SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying the crew made a successful pre-dawn landing in the Gulf of Mexico, close to Florida’s coast, following a midweek departure from the ISS.
Originally scheduled to return two months earlier, the crew’s journey home was postponed due to issues with Boeing’s Starliner capsule, which returned to Earth empty in September due to safety concerns. Just as conditions seemed favorable, Hurricane Milton struck, followed by two weeks of strong winds and rough seas, which further delayed their return.
SpaceX launched the team of NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin in March. Barratt, the mission’s veteran, acknowledged the NASA ground teams for their continued support throughout the delays, saying they had to “replan, re-equip, and redo everything with us.” He expressed gratitude for the teamwork that helped them adapt to these challenges.
This return makes way for the Crew-9 mission, which recently sent NASA’s Nick Hague and Roscosmos’s Aleksandr Gorbunov to the ISS. Meanwhile, Boeing astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, initially set for a brief ISS stay, will now remain until SpaceX’s next return mission in February 2025 due to ongoing issues with Boeing’s capsule. These commercial flights, initiated in 2020, have marked a significant shift, allowing NASA to resume launches from U.S. soil after relying on Russia’s Soyuz rockets since 2011.
