Two NASA astronauts have splashed down off the coast of Florida after spending more than nine months stuck in space.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams began their 17-hour journey back to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) earlier.
The astronauts were only meant to be on the ISS for eight days when they blasted off from Earth on 5 June last year.
They were testing out Boeing’s long-awaited Starliner, a ship designed to rival SpaceX’s Crew Dragon that is currently used to ferry astronauts into space.
However, by the time they docked at the ISS, the Starliner had suffered major problems – with five helium leaks, five dead manoeuvring thrusters and a propellant valve that failed to close completely.
It returned to Earth without them, after it was decided Mr Wilmore, 62, and Ms Williams, 59, would be safer waiting in orbit.
Pic: NASA
Pic: NASA
Since then, the two US Navy veterans have completed spacewalks, experiments and even helped sort out the plumbing onboard the ISS.
The astronauts repeatedly said they enjoyed the mission, with Ms Williams describing the space station as her “happy place”.
The SpaceX vehicle that has brought them home arrived at the space station in September carrying NASA’s Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, along with two empty seats.
The four-person crew, formally part of NASA’s Crew-9 astronaut rotation mission, re-entered Earth’s atmosphere around
5:45 pm local time (9:45pm UK time).
Using Earth’s atmosphere and two sets of parachutes, the craft slowed its orbital speed of roughly 17,000 miles per hour to a soft 17 miles per hour at splashdown.
The astronauts will soon be flown to their crew quarters at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for several days of health checks, per routine for astronaut returns, before NASA flight surgeons approve they can go home to their families.
Read more:
What else has gone wrong in space?
This is what happens to your health from being in space for so long
Crew welcomed to ISS to replace stranded astronauts
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams pictured around a week after they first arrived in space. Pic: NASA Johnson
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The mission has captured the attention of US President Donald Trump, who upon taking office in January called for a quicker return of Wilmore and Williams and alleged without evidence that former President Joe Biden “abandoned” them on the ISS for political reasons.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, a close adviser to Trump, echoed his call for an earlier return.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is the United States’ only orbital-class crew spacecraft, which Boeing had hoped its Starliner would compete with before the mission with Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams threw its development future into uncertainty.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
