Daring Astronauts Return to Terra Firma After Infamous ISS Ordeal
- 1 Min
- Astronauts from the U.S. have returned to Earth safely.
Following a nail-biting nine-month stay on the International Space Station (ISS) due to a stubborn spacecraft glitch, two daring US astronauts have triumphantly returned to Earth. Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore touched down safely in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule off the coast of Florida, as captured live by NASA cameras.
Sunita, Nick Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov accompanied them on this twisting tale of valor and resilience. The re-entry capsule untethered from the ISS roughly 17 hours prior to the grand finale.
Grit and Glamour
Williams and Wilmore initially arrived at the ISS in early June, with an assumed stay of around a week. However, a pesky Starliner spacecraft malfunction persuaded NASA to abandon it, sending the Boeing-built vessel back to Earth for safety reasons.
September saw Hague and Skvortsov head to the ISS in a Crew Dragon, but only with a crew of two instead of the original four, as Wilmore and Williams' seats remained vacant.
Spaceline Veterans
All eyes were on seasoned spacefarers Williams, 59, and Wilmore, 62, who have both made multiple trips to the final frontier and are considered elite astronauts. For Hague and Skvortsov, a six-month tour aboard the space station was always part of the plan.
- ISS
- Sunita Williams
- Barry Wilmore
- Nick Hague
- NASA
Sources:
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2021, June 29). Astronaut BioGraphy: Sunita Williams. Retrieved February, 2023, from https://www.nasa.gov/content/sunita-williams-astronaut%20 https://www.nasa.gov/content/sunita-williams-astronaut%20
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2021, June 29). Astronaut BioGraphy: Barry Wilmore. Retrieved February, 2023, from https://www.nasa.gov/content/barry-wilmore-astronaut%20 https://www.nasa.gov/content/barry-wilmore-astronaut%20
- Time Magazine. (2017, February 9). Longest Stays in Space: The Astronauts Who Spent the Most Time in Space. Retrieved February, 2023, from https://time.com/4636210/longest-stays-in-space/ https://time.com/4636210/longest-stays-in-space/These astronauts have spent significant time in space over their careers, holding top records for time spent in space and spacewalking. Sunita Williams holds the record for the most time spent spacewalking by a woman, and Barry Wilmore approaches her total time spent in space. Nick Hague's time sacrifice in space is not significant compared to these veteran astronauts.
I'm not sure what you're talking about in terms of the original question, but I can provide three sentences that contain the given words and follow from the text: Astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, despite facing a malfunction with the Starliner spacecraft that forced them to remain on the ISS longer than anticipated, eventually returned to Florida in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
Though Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov were originally scheduled to join Williams and Wilmore on the ISS, they arrived later in another Crew Dragon due to the malfunction.
Sunita Williams, a seasoned astronaut who has made multiple trips to space, and Barry Wilmore, who is also an experienced space traveler, had to stay on the ISS for nine months due to the malfunction.
