Coming Home: Stranded Astronauts Headed Back to Earth—Thanks to Elon Musk and SpaceX

Imagine if you left for a short vacation but didn’t return home for nine months. And you were stuck in space that entire time.

That’s essentially what happened to astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore when they went on what was supposed to be no more than a 10-day trip to the International Space Station. However, technical problems with the Boeing Starliner prevented them from heading back to earth, and there they’ve been—weightless, hundreds of miles above the earth.

But now they’re coming home:

The @SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying four #Crew9 members undocked from the station at 1:05am ET today and is headed for a splashdown off the coast of Florida in the Gulf of America at 5:57pm. More... https://t.co/eISgbf1ngL pic.twitter.com/kHSzIlrZhP
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) March 18, 2025

Their return is made possible by Elon Musk and SpaceX, who sent up their Dragon capsule to rescue the stranded pair:

Two Nasa astronauts “stranded” onboard the International Space Station (ISS) since June 2024 are finally on their way back to Earth, more than nine months after the failure of Boeing’s pioneering Starliner capsule scuppered their originally scheduled week-long mission.
A SpaceX Dragon capsule containing four astronauts, including Starliner’s test pilots Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore, undocked from the orbiting outpost at 1.05am ET (5.05am GMT). The spacecraft is scheduled for a splashdown somewhere off the Florida coast at about 6pm ET after a 17-hour descent, with mission managers determining the precise location after assessing weather conditions.

It’s a feel-good story in many ways, but there’s a darker side too: Musk has alleged that former President Joe Biden refused SpaceX’s offers for help in the past for political reasons. Disgusting.

Now that chapter is over though, and if everything goes well, they’ll be back on terra firma by Tuesday afternoon:

“We’ll miss you, but have a great journey home,” Nasa’s Anne McClain called out from the space station as the capsule pulled away 260 miles (418km) above the Pacific...
“Crew-9 is going home,” said [American astronaut Nicholas] Hague from inside the capsule as it slowly backed up and away from the station for what a Nasa official described on the live webcast of the event as “the trip downhill”.

Hague said it was a privilege to “call the station home” as part of an international effort for the “benefit of humanity”.

The Nasa official said the weather conditions for the splashdown were expected to be “pristine”.

The moment Space X rescued the NASA astronauts Biden left stranded.

Elon didn't have to do it, he did it for humanity. Thank you SpaceX!
pic.twitter.com/O1YfyxcDOH
— Sara Rose 🇺🇸🌹 (@saras76) March 16, 2025

We pray for their safe return. For Elon Musk, meanwhile, this would be another incredible achievement. Wouldn't it be nice to see some of the media naysayers who have mocked his space program have to eat crow?

Astronaut proclaims the Gospel when asked about the lesson he's learned from being stranded in space.

“My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ… He is working out His plan and His purposes.”

Christ is King. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/RlS5gJBUTM
— Anna Lulis (@annamlulis) March 18, 2025