NASA: The Moment the ‘Forgotten’ Astronauts Returned to Earth After 286 Days in Space

Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams, along with two members of the International Space Station crew, returned to Earth at 23:57 Greek time on Tuesday (18/3/25) after an extended space odyssey lasting 9.5 months. Just 17 hours after detaching from the International Space Station, astronauts Wilmore, Williams, commander Nick Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbovsky splashed down on the coast of Florida near Tallahassee. This marked the completion of a marathon mission for the two Starliner astronauts who spent a total of 286 days and 7 hours in space, covering 4,576 orbits and 121 million miles since their launch on June 5 of the previous year, originally expected to last about eight days. Technical issues with the Starliner forced NASA to turn to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. In late September, NASA and SpaceX sent two astronauts into space instead of four as initially planned, making room for Wilmore and Williams’ return. They awaited the next crew rotation at the International Space Station, initially scheduled for February but later moved to mid-March, to vacate the space laboratory. Their flight ranks sixth on the list of NASA’s longest individual missions.