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SpaceX Rescue Crew Pranks Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams Ahead of Return
Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Williams are officially back home.
The astronauts safely returned to Earth on March 18, following an extended nine month stay in space. Their journey back comes after a joint NASA and SpaceX crew of four astronauts—from the United States, Japan and Russia—arrived at the International Space Station on March 16 to replace the departing duo.
Suni, 59, and Butch, 62, boarded a SpaceX Dragon capsule alongside fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, splashing down off the coast of Florida following their 17 hour journey. Following their landing, a boat retrieved the pair from the water.
Their homecoming comes nearly 300 days after the NASA astronauts arrived in space aboard the Starliner spacecraft for what was supposed to be an eight-day stay. However, due to various technical issues with the Boeing spacecraft—including a helium leak that began not long after their June launch—NASA decided to send the vehicle back down without the crew.
In September, Crew-9, consisting of Nick and Alexsandr, joined the Starliner crew for their normal six-month tour of duty. During their time in space, the four—who were among the seven aboard the ISS until Crew-10’s arrival—have been working to show the new arrivals the lab and station. Once they leave, the new crew will remain on the station for their six-month rotation, too.
While in space, the two shared frequent updates about their journey, including setting the record straight after President Donald Trump suggested had been “virtually abandoned” in space.
“That's been the narrative from day one: stranded, abandoned, stuck—and I get it,” Butch told CNN in February, “but that is, again, not what our human spaceflight program is about.”
He continued, “We don’t feel abandoned, we don’t feel stuck, we don’t feel stranded.”
MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images
After all, as Suni emphasized they are experienced astronauts—so they are not strangers to ISS living.
“We've got food, we've got clothes, we have great crew members up here,” she added. “Of course, it was a little bit longer stay than we had expected, but both of us have trained to live and work on the International Space Station and I think we've made the most of it.”
Indeed, although their stay was longer than planned, Suni and Butch continued to keep spirits up at the ISS—including holiday celebrations like Thanksgiving celebrations.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
“We have a bunch of food that we’ve packed away that is Thanksgiving-ish,” she told NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt in November. “Some smoked turkey, some cranberry, apple cobbler, green beans and mushrooms and mashed potatoes.”
“People are worried about us, really, don’t worry about us,” she continued. “We’re feeling good, working out, eating right. We have a lot of fun up here, too.”
For more on their journey in space, keep reading.
(E! and NBC Nightly News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP) (Photo by MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images
June 2024
Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore launched into space on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft June 5, 2024, with plans to stay at the International Space Station for eight days. Shortly after their launch, the astronauts reported a “stable and isolated leak” in their propulsion-related plumbing, per the Associated Press.
While the leak remained stable throughout their travel to the ISS, four more leaks emerged and five thrusters—devices used for acceleration—failed. They were able to safely dock at the ISS, with the understanding that their mission would likely last longer than eight days.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
August 2024
Two months after their faulty launch, NASA came forward with the debacle of
the two astronauts stuck in space. At the time, the space organization was still trying to determine whether the Starliner would be fit for a return to space, and Boeing maintained at the time it should have been, with the company telling E! News in a statement, “If NASA decides to change the mission, we will take the actions necessary to configure Starliner for an uncrewed return.”
Meanwhile, former NASA official Scott Hubbard quelled public concern over Wilmore and Williams’ predicament, telling the Associated Press the astronauts—who have each been to space before on prior missions—are only “kind of stuck,” emphasizing that they have “plenty of supplies and work to do.”
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
August 2024
After NASA confirmed that Williams and Wilmore would return to Earth on a SpaceX mission in February or March, rather than attempting to fix the Starliner, their families spoke out.
Wilmore’s wife Deanna Wilmore told WVLT in August of her family’s predicament, “You just sort of have to roll with it and expect the unexpected."
Meanwhile, Williams’ husband Michael shared that he didn’t think his wife would be unsettled by spending more time in space, telling The Wall Street Journal, “That's her happy place.”
Nasa/UPI/Shutterstock
November 2024
Just before celebrating six months in space, Williams and Wilmore shared insight into their Thanksgiving celebrations aboard the ISS.
“We have a bunch of food that we’ve packed away that is Thanksgiving-ish,” Wiliams told NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt from the ISS on Nov. 27. “Some smoked turkey, some cranberry, apple cobbler, green beans and mushrooms and mashed potatoes.”
Williams also reiterated that she and Wilmore were doing just fine amid their extended stay in space.
“People are worried about us, really, don’t worry about us,” she added. “We’re feeling good, working out, eating right. We have a lot of fun up here, too.”
Manoj Verma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
December 2024
After the astronauts celebrated six months in space, NASA confirmed they would be staying even longer than previously thought. Although the organization had originally planned for the duo to return in February, delays in the SpaceX mission that would retrieve them led their stay to be extended to March or April, NASA said at the time.
(Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
February 2025
In February, President Donald Trump claimed in a Truth Social post that Williams and Wilmore had been “virtually abandoned” in space amid their eight-day-turned-eight-month journey. However, following the headline-making comment, the astronauts pushed back on the president’s claim.
“We don't feel abandoned,” Wilmore insisted to CNN’s Anderson Cooper in a Feb. 13 interview. "We don't feel stuck. We don't feel stranded. We come prepared. We come committed.”
Williams interjected during the interview that the pair were “doing pretty darn good, actually.”
“We've got food, we've got clothes, we have great crew members up here,” she continued. “Of course, it was a little bit longer stay than we had expected, but both of us have trained to live and work on the International Space Station and I think we've made the most of it.”
During the interview, Wilmore and Williams also confirmed they’d be returning to Earth when SpaceX launches its Dragon capsule March 12.
“They'll come here, rendezvous and dock," Wilmore explained. “We'll do a turnover for about a week and we will return on or about the 19th of March.”
MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images
March 2025
Just days before her father was set to return, Wilmore’s daughter Daryn Wilmore spoke out on her father’s time in space—and how she felt about the delays in his return to Earth.
“It’s a bit mentally exhausting,” she told the Daily Mail in a March 6 interview. “There's been issues. There's been negligence. And that's the reason why this has just kept getting delayed. There's just been issue after issue after issue.”
Daryn expressed that her father was “bummed,” but otherwise doing well on the ISS, adding, “My dad is very resilient.”
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