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[XXL]

Finally! 'Stranded' NASA Astronauts Return to Earth on SpaceX Dragon

NASA's Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore made a gentle splashdown off the coast of Florida after an unexpectedly long stay on the space station.

www.cnet.com

Williams and Wilmore rode to the station on a crewed Boeing Starliner test mission in June. The crew capsule encountered technical issues and was sent back to Earth without the astronauts. Their eight-day stay became a months-long stay. The pair hitched a ride back on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The capsule made a picture-perfect splashdown off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida on Tuesday afternoon.

 

[YCoCg]

Defund NASA and give all contracts to Space X

 

[XXL]

Defund NASA and give all contracts to Space X

How about we just celebrate them being back safely?

 

[YCoCg]

How about we just celebrate them being back safely?

We can do that but also make sure it never happens again by stripping incompetent NASA of their bloated free loading contracts and giving them to a real space company.

 

[kruis]

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Sunita after five minutes back on earth after brushing that hair finally..

I bet that was killing her

 

[JayK47]

About time. Glad they made it back safe.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Being stuck in the first place sucks, how something like that happens under NASa's wing is weird.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

So Musk solved it fast while NASA couldnt do it in 8 months.

Thats gov for ya.

 

[TransTrender]

Imagine having to hold in your farts for that long.

 

[Mistake]

I'm sure the detractors are pleased

 

[PSYGN]

Must be surreal to see the world from the ground again

 

[Shadowplay1979]

Being without gravity for a few months and then returning to earth hurts a lot. Its like suddenly having a ton of bricks falling on you. For a few days your extremities swell up with awful pain and you are bed ridden for a few days to a week depending how long youve been up there.

 

[LordCBH]

I'm super happy they're finally back safely!

 

[SJRB]

Why is stranded in quotation marks? They literally were.

 

[Kacho]

Glad they finally made it back. Eat a big cheeseburger and watch Seinfeld reruns.

 

[AJUMP23]

What a place to get stuck....space.

Glad they made it back, and America has the coolest privatized space race in the world.

 

[mitch1971]

A few more Tesla bonfires being ignited to celebrate, tonight, I would assume.

 

[calistan]

So Musk solved it fast while NASA couldnt do it in 8 months.

Thats gov for ya.

You can read some more about it here, if you're interested, including how the vessel that actually brought them back launched last September.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/...n-when-basic-spaceflight-truths-are-shredded/

edit: a quote for the click-stubborn.

The reality is that NASA set a plan for the return of Wilmore and Williams last August. The spacecraft that brought them back to Earth on Tuesday safely docked to the space station in September. They could have come home at any time since. NASA—not the Biden administration, which all of my reporting indicates was not involved in any decision-making—decided the best and safest option was to keep Wilmore and Williams in orbit until early this year. Musk knew this plan. He had to sign off on it. Senior NASA officials earlier this month confirmed, publicly and on the record, that the decision was made by the space agency in the best interests of the International Space Station Program.

 

[AJUMP23]

Amusing

 

[Wandering Leopard]

As we just aren't built for space, especially for long periods of time - I'm curious what this does to the body and whether they'll be exactly as they were before going up.

 

[RJMacready73]

You can read some more about it here, if you're interested, including how the vessel that actually brought them back launched last September.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/...n-when-basic-spaceflight-truths-are-shredded/

edit: a quote for the click-stubborn.

The reality is that NASA set a plan for the return of Wilmore and Williams last August. The spacecraft that brought them back to Earth on Tuesday safely docked to the space station in September. They could have come home at any time since. NASA—not the Biden administration, which all of my reporting indicates was not involved in any decision-making—decided the best and safest option was to keep Wilmore and Williams in orbit until early this year. Musk knew this plan. He had to sign off on it. Senior NASA officials earlier this month confirmed, publicly and on the record, that the decision was made by the space agency in the best interests of the International Space Station Program.

are you saying Musk lied about the Biden administration didn't want to use SpaceX and hand the Trump administration a win thus keeping them in space as a deliberate act of political sabotage? but but Elon told Joe Rogan that's what "ackshullay" happened? say it isnt so

 

[Zathalus]

As we just aren't built for space, especially for long periods of time - I'm curious what this does to the body and whether they'll be exactly as they were before going up.

That's why long term space exploration and colonising Mars is completely off the table unless we either do extensive genetic modification or invent advanced gravity control (maybe possible via centrifugal rotation) and radiation shielding. The long term impact of low/no gravity and the elevated radiation will play merry hell with human health. Pregnancy in such situations also has likely severe complications.

 

[a'la mode]

You can read some more about it here, if you're interested, including how the vessel that actually brought them back launched last September.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/...n-when-basic-spaceflight-truths-are-shredded/

edit: a quote for the click-stubborn.

The reality is that NASA set a plan for the return of Wilmore and Williams last August. The spacecraft that brought them back to Earth on Tuesday safely docked to the space station in September. They could have come home at any time since. NASA—not the Biden administration, which all of my reporting indicates was not involved in any decision-making—decided the best and safest option was to keep Wilmore and Williams in orbit until early this year. Musk knew this plan. He had to sign off on it. Senior NASA officials earlier this month confirmed, publicly and on the record, that the decision was made by the space agency in the best interests of the International Space Station Program.

Oh that rascal Felon Musk twisting things, trying to steal credit again. He's just a pathological liar.

 

[RJMacready73]

As we just aren't built for space, especially for long periods of time - I'm curious what this does to the body and whether they'll be exactly as they were before going up.

nothing good

 

[Punished Miku]

Oh that rascal Felon Musk twisting things, trying to steal credit again. He's just a pathological liar.

I heard he personally did mouth to mouth during re-entry because the astronauts' diaphragm wasn't used to the gravity. The man is a hero.

 

[calistan]

are you saying Musk lied about the Biden administration didn't want to use SpaceX and hand the Trump administration a win thus keeping them in space as a deliberate act of political sabotage? but but Elon told Joe Rogan that's what "ackshullay" happened? say it isnt so

It's surprising and somewhat out of character, isn't it?

From some of the coverage, you'd think that the rocket they launched a few days ago was the one sent up to bring that brave boy (and some random woman) back home. Instead, they've had a taxi waiting in their space garage for about seven months, but have remained on the ISS for so-called "science" and reasons.

 

[jason10mm]

I imagine the issue was the stranded astronauts using the available spaceX pod, leaving earlier that it was scheduled with the other astronauts and cosmonauts, and then having to send up a replacement return vehicle for the "regular" crew, rather than there being a ship in place all along. Elon I'm sure offered to do it (for a price), but NASA decided to keep them up there rather than eat the cost. Elon can be correct from his POV AND NASA can say this was all according to keikaku, both can be true.

 

[Chuck Berry]

What the hell is there to eat up there that would last eight months?

Eight months of that freeze dried ice cream? When they shit where does the doody go? Do they flush it out into the great beyond?

 

[j0hnnix]

All the OG Musk lovers / tree huggers who are now anti Musk are screaming.

 

[Punished Miku]

When they shit where does the doody go?

They've been stockpiling it on Mars for decades for their terraforming operation. Shit will be more valuable than gold up there.

 

[RagnarokIV]

A few more Tesla bonfires being ignited to celebrate, tonight, I would assume.

sadly as they got back the spaceX craft was molotov'd by soyboys and they died RIP. the end x

 

[calistan]

What the hell is there to eat up there that would last eight months?

Eight months of that freeze dried ice cream? When they shit where does the doody go? Do they flush it out into the great beyond?

There's a continuous crew up there, including some who arrived long before the two 'stranded' Americans, and who remain there. New crews bring stuff, and they have unmanned supply missions. Waste is packaged up and jettisoned or burned up in the atmosphere.
https://whoisinspace.com/

edit: my bad, I can't count - the American pair were longer serving than the ones the left behind.