Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams has successfully returned to Earth after nine months in space. She and her fellow astronauts journeyed home via the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, completing a 17-hour trip back. Feeling gravity for the first time in nine months was a unique experience for her.
This morning, the SpaceX Dragon capsule made a safe splashdown off the coast of Florida at 3:27 AM. The waiting safety team skillfully brought each member of the four-person crew out of the capsule one by one: first Crew-9 mission captain Nick Hague, then Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov, followed by Sunita Williams, and finally, Butch Wilmore.
Upon reentry into Earth's atmosphere, the Dragon capsule's temperature soared to 1,600 degrees Celsius, marking a crucial moment in their return.
This was when Sunita Williams first felt gravity again after nine long months. As she smiled and waved, it marked her return to the tangible sensation of Earth's pull.
Once brought out of the Dragon capsule, Sunita was seated on a stretcher. This procedure is standard medical protocol post-spaceflight. Standing briefly but unsteadily due to the absence of gravity for so long, she was assisted onto the stretcher by two aides.
Initially, the astronauts were to depart for only 8 days. However, technical setbacks extended their expedition to 9 months. Dispatched to space on June 5, 2024, aboard Boeing's new Starliner Crew Capsule, Wilmore and Williams logged 286 days in space—significantly more than their original mission plan of 8 days.
NASA reports that Sunita Williams and her team conducted 900 hours of research, completing over 150 experiments and setting a record for a woman spending the most time in space. She spent 62 hours and 9 minutes outside the space station, conducting 9 spacewalks in total.
