Astronauts Finally Head Home: It's Been 'a Lot of Fun'

One of the most "unusual and closely watched [chapters] in spaceflight history" is about to come to a close. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were originally only supposed to be at the International Space Station for a week when they set off into space on Boeing's Starliner last June—but after the spacecraft malfunctioned and was sent back to Earth without its crew, the NASA astronauts were left behind on the ISS. Early Tuesday, however, the pair finally left the space station, this time in a SpaceX Dragon capsule, with an expected splashdown off the Florida coast set for 6pm ET, reports NBC News.

• Fellow travelers: NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are also hurtling back to Earth with Williams and Wilmore after their own six-month mission at the space station. A NASA statement notes that those two are returning from "a long-duration science expedition" with "time-sensitive research."

• Political fallout: Both Williams and Wilmore say they've enjoyed their stay, with Williams calling their mission "a lot of fun" earlier this month, despite President Trump and Elon Musk insinuating that the Biden administration had "abandoned" them there for political purposes, per NBC, which notes those claims are unsubstantiated. Amid the storm that followed, Williams and Wilmore "continued to maintain an even keel at public appearances from orbit, casting no blame and insisting they supported NASA's decisions from the start," reports the AP.
• A record? Not quite: CNN notes the two were in orbit for 286 days, but the late Valeri Polyakov of Russia claims the record with 437 days, or about 14 1/2 months.
• New crew: Now, four new astronauts, who arrived Sunday, are manning the ISS: NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, as well as Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.

(More astronauts stories.)