NASA's live broadcast footage shows that at 17:57 Eastern Time on March 18th (5:57 Beijing Time on March 19th), the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft splashed down in the waters near Florida. The spacecraft is carrying four astronauts, including American astronauts Wilmore and Williams who were stranded on the International Space Station due to a malfunction of the Boeing "StarCraft" spacecraft. At this point, two American astronauts have finally ended over nine months of "unexpected overtime" in space and returned to Earth.

The "Dragon" spacecraft carrying stranded astronauts departed from the International Space Station at 1:05 am Eastern Time on the 18th (1:05 am Beijing Time on the 18th) and set off to return to Earth. In addition to Wilmore and Williams, the spacecraft also carried American astronaut Nick Haig and Russian astronaut Gorbunov.

In order to retrieve stranded astronauts, NASA and SpaceX sent the "Dragon" spacecraft carrying four other astronauts into its designated orbit on the 14th to transport rotating astronauts to the International Space Station. On the 16th, the "Dragon" spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station.

US media: stranded female astronaut admits health issues

Before returning to Earth, Wilmore and Williams had been stranded in space for over 9 months.

According to a report by CBS at the end of January this year, Williams admitted that his basic physical abilities had been affected after being stranded in space for about 7 months. American astronaut Williams said, "I have been trying to regain the feeling of walking. In space, I did not walk, sit down, or lie down

Previously, photos of Williams becoming skinny with a "cone-shaped face" circulated online, showing her emaciated and haggard appearance, causing concern among many about her health condition. However, at the time, Williams insisted that her condition was good and she and Wilmore did not feel abandoned.

US astronaut stranded in space for over 9 months, return journey bumpy

Wilmore and Williams flew to the space station on June 5, 2024 aboard the Boeing "StarCraft" spacecraft to carry out the first manned test flight mission of the "StarCraft".

However, due to issues such as propulsion failures and helium leaks, the return time of the two astronauts has been repeatedly postponed. The originally planned 8-day space "business trip" has turned into an indefinite "long-term stay" in space.

The survival tug of war and political game of American astronauts

It was not until public opinion erupted that NASA sought help from SpaceX to send two astronauts back to the ground using the Dragon spacecraft.

In August 2024, then NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced that two astronauts would return to Earth in February of this year aboard the "Dragon" spacecraft (but later rescheduled to no earlier than the end of March of this year), while the "StarCraft" would return empty. Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, stated in an interview with American media that the long-term stay of astronauts in space is not due to technical reasons. They offered to bring the astronauts back early, but it was rejected by the Biden administration due to political factors.

Musk also revealed that in the second half of last year, as the election was approaching and he belonged to the "Trump team", Biden believed that the idea of "SpaceX bringing astronauts home" would make Trump "look good", which was not conducive to Harris' campaign.

One of the two astronauts, Wilmore, also spoke up suggesting who should be responsible for the 9-month stay. Wilmore said, 'I can only say that what Musk said is absolutely true, although we don't know the details either.'. Wilmore's daughter also gave a vague answer, stating that the reason for her stay involves many political factors and there are many things she cannot "casually disclose".