Hyderabad: 

Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore, and other Crew-9 members -- Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, upon their return to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon Freedom were greeted by a spectacular sight.

NASA astronauts Williams and Wilmore, who spent nine months in space, finally returned to Earth on Wednesday (India time). This space journey captured global attention.

The SpaceX Crew-9 mission carried out in collaboration with NASA, marked another milestone for the private aerospace company. The crew successfully splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, where recovery teams and a few friendly dolphins, welcomed them.

After the successful splashdown of the spacecraft, a pod of dolphins was seen gracefully swimming around it. A video captured the moment when these aquatic mammals encircled the floating capsule while the recovery team was working to assist the crew. This astonishing encounter added a unique touch to the astronauts' return journey from space.

After the splashdown, fast boats rushed to the capsule for safety checks, and soon a recovery vessel came to help the astronauts. The astronauts were then flown to Houston for a 45-day rehabilitation program.

In June 2023, both NASA astronauts originally travelled to the ISS for a short test flight on Boeing Starliner. However, were forced to stay there due to propulsion issues grounding the spacecraft, leading the Starliner to return to Earth without the astronauts. The duo was reassigned to NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 mission which arrived in September with a team of two instead of the usual four. Notably, their extended stay lasted for 286 days which is beyond the six-month ISS rotation. This is marked as the sixth-longest US space mission.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule, carrying the astronauts made a smooth splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, near Tallahassee, Florida, at 3:37 AM IST (2157 GMT). The ground team applauded when the spacecraft bumped into the sea. During re-entering the Earth's surface, the exterior body of the spacecraft experienced 2,000-degree Celsius temperatures.

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Successful Splashdown! Sunita Williams Returns To Earth With Crew-9 Members