4 Astronauts Return To Earth After Being Delayed By Boeing’s Capsule Trouble And Hurricane Milton

A SpaceX capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico just off the Florida coast before dawn on Friday, carrying four astronauts who returned to Earth after a nearly eight-month International Space Station stay extended by Boeing’s capsule trouble and Hurricane Milton.

Friday, October 25th 2024, 6:58 am

By: Associated Press


-

Four astronauts returned to Earth on Friday after a nearly eight-month space station stay extended by Boeing’s capsule trouble and Hurricane Milton.

SpaceX capsule carrying the crew parachuted before dawn into the Gulf of Mexico just off the Florida coast after undocking from the International Space Station mid-week.

The three Americans and one Russian should have been back two months ago. But their homecoming was stalled by problems with Boeing’s new Starliner astronaut capsule, which came back empty in September because of safety concerns. Then Hurricane Milton interfered, followed by another two weeks of high wind and rough seas.

SpaceX launched the four — NASA’s Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, and Russia’s Alexander Grebenkin — in March. Barratt, the only space veteran going into the mission, acknowledged the support teams back home that had “to replan, retool and kind of redo everything right along with us ... and helped us to roll with all those punches.”

Their replacements are the two Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose own mission went from eight days to eight months, and two astronauts launched by SpaceX four weeks ago. Those four will remain up there until February.

The space station is now back to its normal crew size of seven — four Americans and three Russians — after months of overflow.

logo

Get The Daily Update!

Be among the first to get breaking news, weather, and general news updates from News 9 delivered right to your inbox!

More Like This

October 25th, 2024

May 25th, 2023

May 25th, 2023

May 19th, 2023

Top Headlines

November 24th, 2024

November 24th, 2024

November 24th, 2024

November 24th, 2024