The stranded astronauts returned home after a dramatic touchdown
The Nasa astronauts who were stranded in space for over nine months finally returned home to Earth last night as they splashed down into the Gulf of Mexico.
Barry Wilmore, 62, and Sunita Williams, 59, left Earth on the 5 June with the International Space Station (ISS) as their destination aboard the Boeing-made Starliner spacecraft.
The stranded astronauts’ mission was only meant to last eight days as they continued tests on Boeing’s first reusable space capsule as it underwent its maiden flight with pilots onboard.
Starliner was only intended to reach the ISS and dock for a few days before returning back to Earth, however technical issues with the spacecraft have meant that the crew have now been stranded in space for over nine months.
The unfortunate situation arose after technical problems befell the space capsule with engineers continuing to analyse data concerning faults with multiple of the ships thrusters when it approached for docking, and several helium leaks.
With a return on the same capsule deemed too risky, alternative arrangements had to be made, with Elon Musk’s Space X stepping up to bring the stranded astronauts home.
The flight on the Space X Dragon Capsule had already been arranged to bring astronauts to the ISS in early 2025, with Wilmore and Williams tagging along with Nasa astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov for the ride home.
The Dragon Capsule arrived at the space station on Sunday (16 March) with the astronauts onboard being greeted with hugs and cheers.
After undergoing a 17 hour journey back to terraferma, the astronauts returned safe and sound.
Since their return many have questioned what the overtime is like for an astronaut who spent more than 20 times longer in space than intended.
Well, according to retired NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, astronauts don’t really get much in the way of overtime beyond their usual space salary.
Being federal employees, their time in the vacuum of space is treated just the same as their terrestrial counterparts, meaning an underwhelming amount of extra pay.
Coleman told Unilad: “There is some small amount of money every say for incidentals that they end up being legally obligated to pay you.”
However, this is likely to be just $4 per day, totalling $1,004 each for their time so far.
Meanwhile, the Nasa insists that the astronauts are not exactly ‘stranded’.
Wilmore and Williams undertook regular tasks of astronauts on the ISS to make good use of the time they spent there.
The pair spent an impromptu Christmas and birthdays in space.
They’ll surely be happy to be back.
Welcome home!
