NASA astronauts splash down in Gulf of America off Florida coast after assist from Musk’s SpaceX

The two NASA astronauts that have been stranded on the International Space Station for nine months splashed down in the Gulf of America after a SpaceX Capsule launched earlier this week to retrieve them. 

Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore launched in a Boeing Starliner spaceship last June, but were stranded on the station because of safety issues with their craft. The pair were only supposed to visit the International Space Station for one week. 

Shortly after his inauguration earlier this year, President Donald Trump said that he asked Elon Musk and his company, SpaceX, to retrieve the astronauts from the ISS. 

“The POTUS has asked SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the Space Station as soon as possible. We will do so,” Musk wrote on X. “Terrible that the Biden administration left them there [for] so long.”

SpaceX has successfully launched 13 prior crewed missions to the International Space Station for NASA.