Space Travelers Touch Down on Earth Following 5-Month Sojourn at the International Space Station
NASA Astronauts Safely Return from International Space Station on SpaceX Crew-10
Four astronauts, led by Commander Anne McClain, returned to Earth on Saturday after a successful 140-day mission aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance. The astronauts, which included Nichole Ayers (NASA), Takuya Onishi (JAXA), and Kirill Peskov (Roscosmos), completed their research missions on the International Space Station (ISS) without any major technical issues.
Their return marked a significant moment, as it was the first time back-to-back private crews experienced Pacific homecomings. This was SpaceX's third Pacific splashdown with people on board, but the first for a NASA crew in 50 years. The last time NASA astronauts returned to the Pacific from space was during the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission, a joint mission with Soviets.
Meanwhile, veteran astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who had been aboard the ISS since the botched demo of Boeing's Starliner in June, were left stranded due to malfunctions with the spacecraft's reaction control thrusters. The Starliner mission experienced significant problems, including the failure of 5 reaction control thrusters during docking on June 6, 2025.
Due to safety concerns from the thruster issues, NASA and Boeing debated whether Wilmore and Williams should return via Starliner or be retrieved by an alternative vehicle, such as an empty SpaceX Dragon mission. The Starliner craft was kept attached to the ISS longer to allow troubleshooting, with planned fixes under development.
In a turn of events, NASA ordered Boeing's new crew capsule to return empty and switched Wilmore and Williams to SpaceX. This change of plans allowed the veteran astronauts to finally return from the ISS, where they had been for more than nine months instead of a week.
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As McClain and her crew left the space station, she made note of "some tumultuous times on Earth" before departing. Wilmore, who has since retired from NASA, was not part of the Crew-10 mission but had been a part of previous missions.
This incident highlighted the importance of reliability and safety in space travel, as the botched demo of Boeing's Starliner raised doubts about the spacecraft's reliability at that time. The AP will continue to provide updates on this developing story.
1. The successful return of NASA astronauts from the International Space Station marked a milestone in space-and-astronomy, particularly in the field of technology, as it was the first time in 50 years that a NASA crew splashed down in the Pacific, thanks to SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft.
2. Meanwhile, concerns about the reliability of another spacecraft, Boeing's Starliner, surfaced due to its botched demonstration mission, raising questions about the future of health and safety in space travel, as NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams remained stranded on the ISS.
