Viral video: Dolphins greet Sunita Williams home after 9-month space ordeal
Two astronauts, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, returned to Earth after a nine-month stay in space. They were originally scheduled to be there for eight days but were stranded due to propulsion issues with the Boeing Starliner capsule.
The two astronauts returned home with NASA's Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, forming NASA/SpaceX Crew-9.
They were welcomed by dolphins swimming around the capsule, which was later retrieved by the recovery vessel.
There are a bunch of dolphins swimming around SpaceX's Dragon capsule. They want to say hi to the Astronauts too! lol pic.twitter.com/sE9bVhgIi1
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) March 18, 2025
The dolphins were swimming around the capsule while the recovery operation was underway.
The Dolphins arrive right on schedule 🐬pic.twitter.com/mudMyPVkRF
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) March 18, 2025
The recovery vessel successfully lifted the capsule out of the water, after which the capsule's side hatch was opened for the first time since September.
The astronauts stepped out of the capsule and were taken to Houston for a 45-day rehabilitation program. Crew-9 undocked at 10:35 am (IST), with NASA sharing a video of the spacecraft detaching from the space station.
Elon Musk's SpaceX was tasked with bringing Crew-9 back to Earth.
The Dragon capsule atop the Falcon 9 rocket was launched for the mission. Crew-10 has replaced Crew-9 at the International Space Station. Williams and Wilmore, both former Navy pilots, had flown to the orbital lab on June 5 last year. It was the first crewed flight of a Boeing Starliner.
Elon Musk's SpaceX Dragon spacecraft brought the astronauts back home and splashed down at 3:27 am off the Florida coast.
