(TheConservativeTimes.org) – After being stranded in space for nine months due to Boeing’s botched mission, American heroes are finally coming home.
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore have begun their journey back to Earth.
They boarded a SpaceX Dragon capsule after being abandoned on the International Space Station, a situation that required President Donald Trump’s intervention to resolve.
The four-person crew undocked from the ISS earlier today, beginning their 17-hour journey home.
The SpaceX rescue mission comes after Boeing’s Starliner capsule experienced multiple technical failures that left the astronauts stranded in space far longer than their planned week-long mission.
Instead of the quick turnaround they expected, Williams and Wilmore spent nine months orbiting Earth.
The splashdown is scheduled for approximately 5:57 p.m. off the Florida coast, ending what has become one of NASA’s most embarrassing episodes in recent years.
NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Williams, and Wilmore and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are among the crew aboard the Dragon capsule.
While stranded in space, Williams made the best of a bad situation, setting a record for the most time a female astronaut spent spacewalking, with 62 hours over nine spacewalks.
Look at this crew!!!!! They’re coming home!!!!! #nasa #crew9 #spacex @NASAKennedy https://t.co/YDH6wtKQuf pic.twitter.com/FnXpP5hOCJ
— Yuna Lee (@YunaLeeTV) March 17, 2025
“I’d like to say it was a privilege to call space home. To live and work and be a part of a mission and a team that spans the globe in cooperation for the benefit of humanity,” Crew-9 commander Hague stated.
The mission faced significant delays until President Trump stepped in, urging SpaceX and Elon Musk to expedite the return process for the stranded Americans.
The plight of the astronauts became a matter of national concern when they missed significant family events during their extended stay.
Wilmore previously attempted to downplay their ordeal, making light of the obvious reality that they were indeed stranded due to Boeing’s engineering failures.
“We don’t feel abandoned, we don’t feel stuck, we don’t feel stranded. I understand why others may think that…if you’ll help us change the rhetoric, help us change the narrative, let’s change it to ‘prepared and committed,’ that’s what we prefer,” Wilmore declared.
The future of Boeing’s Starliner capsule remains uncertain. Ongoing investigations into its technical issues make it unlikely to fly again before 2025.
Meanwhile, SpaceX continues to demonstrate strength with its Dragon capsule, which was quickly repurposed to speed up the astronauts’ return.
After splashdown, the astronauts will reunite with their families in Houston, bringing to close a mission that was supposed to last days but instead stretched into nearly a year.
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