Moment Nasa astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore made spectacular splashdown after 286 days in space

After an extended and unplanned stay in space, Nasa astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams safely returned to Earth on Tuesday, marking the end of a nine-month-long ordeal that saw them stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Their SpaceX capsule successfully splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, just hours after their departure from the ISS.

Their journey, which was initially supposed to last a little over a week, turned into a record-setting mission due to persistent technical setbacks with Boeing's new Starliner crew capsule. The two astronauts originally launched aboard Starliner on June 5, but were forced to extend their mission indefinitely when a series of failures rendered the capsule unfit for a return trip. Nasa ultimately decided to bring them home via SpaceX, which faced its own delays, further prolonging their time in orbit.
Upon splashdown, SpaceX confirmed their safe return in a post on X, "Splashdown of Dragon confirmed – welcome back to Earth, Nick, Suni, Butch, and Aleks!"