Finally! Two NASA Astronauts Trapped In Space Have Returned To Earth

Crew-9 members while on their way to Earth (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA Two NASA astronauts trapped for more than nine months on the International Space Station (ISS) have returned to Earth. The two astronauts are Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.

Williams and Wilmore are back as members of the Crew-9 mission, joining two other astronauts, namely NASA Astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos Cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. The four of them landed on Wednesday, March 19 at around 05.00 WIB.

The Dragon plane carrying the four astronauts landed successfully off the coast of Talalassee in Florida. The crew has been brought back to the mainland and now they will be escorted to the Johnston Space Center, NASA facility in Houston.

"We are very happy that Suni, Butch, Nick, and Aleksandr returned home after their months of mission to do important science, demonstrations of technology, and maintenance at the International Space Station," said NASA Administrator Janet Petro.

Please note that Crew-9 should still be on the ISS for now, helping Crew-10 and other expedition teams work on scientific research. However, US President Donald Trump encouraged NASA to accelerate the crew's return.

This happened because two of its astronauts did not come home, namely Williams and Wilmore. The two astronauts were supposed to only be on the ISS for two weeks to carry out the Starliner demonstration mission, Boeing's plane.

However, the opposite happened. Starliner had a leak problem and the two astronauts had to stay temporarily at the space laboratory. Williams and Wilmore's return schedule was always uncertain until they finally joined Crew-9.

"According to President Trump's directives, NASA and SpaceX are working hard to speed up a month's schedule. This international crew and our team on the ground are accepting the challenge of the Trump Administration to renew a rather unique mission plan to take home our crew," Petro explained.