Astronauts stranded in space for nine months finally return to Earth

The stranded astronauts returned home after a dramatic touchdown

Barry Wilmore, 62, and Sunita Williams, 59, left Earth on the 5 June with the International Space Station (ISS) as their destination aboard the Boeing-made Starliner spacecraft.

The stranded astronauts’ mission was only meant to last eight days as they continued tests on Boeing’s first reusable space capsule as it underwent its maiden flight with pilots onboard.

Starliner was only intended to reach the ISS and dock for a few days before returning back to Earth, however technical issues with the spacecraft have meant that the crew have now been stranded in space for over nine months.

The unfortunate situation arose after technical problems befell the space capsule with engineers continuing to analyse data concerning faults with multiple of the ships thrusters when it approached for docking, and several helium leaks.

With a return on the same capsule deemed too risky, alternative arrangements had to be made, with Elon Musk's Space X stepping up to bring the stranded astronauts home.

The flight on the Space X Dragon Capsule had already been arranged to bring astronauts to the ISS in early 2025, with Wilmore and Williams tagging along with Nasa astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov for the ride home.

The Dragon Capsule arrived at the space station on Sunday (16 March) with the astronauts onboard being greeted with hugs and cheers.

It has since undocked from the ISS at 5am (GMT) this morning (18 March) and has undergone a 17 hour journey back to terraferma.

Nasa’s Anne McClain called out from the space station “We’ll miss you, but have a great journey home,” as the capsule pulled away 260 miles (418km) above the Pacific.

Wilmore and Williams undertook regular tasks of astronauts on the ISS to make good use of the time they spent there.

The pair spent an impromptu Christmas and birthdays in space.

They'll surely be happy to be back.

Welcome home!