NASA astronauts speak about return to Earth after Starliner flight flop left them stuck on space station

Dolphins give returning astronauts a warm welcome home

Moments after SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft touched down in the waters off the Florida coast, they were surrounded by several dolphins swimming by the capsule.

HOUSTON – More than nine months after launching on Starliner’s first crewed mission to the International Space Station, two NASA astronauts are back on Earth. Monday, they talked about their stay in space and how they came home on a different spacecraft.

NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague splashed down off the west coast of Florida on March 18 in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The Earth arrival should have happened nine months ago for Williams and Wilmore, who launched in June 2024 on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, but a 10-day test flight turned into a nine-month stay after a series of issues with Starliner. NASA decided to bring Starliner home without its astronauts, making Williams and Wilmore part of the long-duration crew until the International Space Station schedule lined up to return them home on a SpaceX Dragon.

"We had a plan, right? The plan went way off what we had planned, but because we're in human spaceflight, we prepare for any number of contingencies because this is a curvy road; you never know where it's going to go," Wilmore said. 

BOEING STARLINER RETURNS HOME TO EARTH WITHOUT ASTRONAUTS, MARKING END OF TUMULTUOUS MISSION

(L-R) Astronauts Sunita "Suni" Williams, and Barry "Butch" Wilmore speak during a news conference at the NASA Johnson Space Center on March 31, 2025 in Houston, Texas.

(Brandon Bell / Getty Images)

During their stay, the pair were subject to numerous international headlines about being "stranded in space" and requiring rescue. Even President Donald Trump jumped into the fray and asked Elon Musk’s SpaceX to step in and bring them home. The plan to bring Williams and Wilmore home via SpaceX was in place prior to the president’s statements.

Hague said politics don't make it more than 200 miles above Earth.

"When we're up there operating in space, you don't feel the politics. You don't feel any of that," Hague said. "We are working as a part of an international team that spans the globe and works with, you know, half a dozen mission control centers spread around the globe talking in multiple languages."

"We just figure out how to make it happen," Hague continued. "That's the magic of human spaceflight, is that we can focus on something so positive that pulls people together. And we've been doing that for a long time."

Interest in the Starliner astronauts was apparent Monday when more than 60 news outlets packed NASA's Johnson Space Center auditorium in Houston to speak to them for the first time since their return. 

NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, left, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, second from left, and NASA astronauts Nick Hague, second from right, and Suni Williams, right are seen inside a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery ship MEGAN shortly after having landed in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore are returning from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station.

(Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber))

However, both veteran astronauts said that while the mission did not go as planned, they were happy to be there working on the space station. 

The Starliner-turned-Crew-9 mission marked Wilmore's and William's third spaceflight and could be the last of their careers with NASA. 

DOLPHINS WELCOME ASTRONAUTS BACK TO EARTH AFTER 9 MONTHS, SWIMMING AROUND SPACEX DRAGON CAPSULE

The astronauts told reporters that they were unaware of some of the media reports about their extended mission. The astronauts said they were focused on conducting research and being part of the ISS crew.  

"We were just really focused on what we were doing and trying to be part of the team," Williams said.

Meanwhile, Boeing and NASA continue to work to certify Starliner to launch astronaut missions to the ISS. Both astronauts said they would be willing to fly on Starliner again.

"We really have to get it right, and because of our mission, I think that highlighted some areas where maybe we need to work on and get it right for our fellow astronauts," Williams said.

Wilmore said NASA and Boeing share "the blame" for the problematic mission, and he accepted some responsibility as well.

"There were questions that, as the commander of the spacecraft that I should have asked, and I did not at the time," Wilmore said. "The answers to those questions could have turned the tide."

This comes as the end of the space station is approaching. After 25 years, the orbiting laboratory is expected to be de-orbited by a SpaceX spacecraft after 2030.