Curious dolphins welcomed NASA astronauts back to Earth after their 9-month saga stuck in space

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore got a warm welcome from a pod of dolphins when they returned from nine months in space.

Mar 19, 2025 - 04:31

Curious dolphins welcomed NASA astronauts back to Earth after their 9-month saga stuck in space

side by side images of sunita williams and butch wilmore in white and grey spacex spacesuits waving and giving thumbs up whlie being helped out of their spaceship — Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were each lifted out of the SpaceX vehicle and onto a mobility device, per regular NASA procedure.
NASA

A pod of dolphins swam around SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceship after it splashed down Tuesday.
Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were returning from nine months stuck in space.
The dolphins made their splashdown extra special.

Shortly after a SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, a pod of dolphins swarmed the spaceship.

Two of the astronauts on board the spaceship — Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore — were returning from an unexpected nine-month stint on the space station, which earned them an international reputation as "stranded" or "stuck" on the International Space Station.

The duo launched aboard Boeing's new spaceship in June but could not return to Earth as planned after the vehicle had some engine malfunctions. What was meant to be a roughly weeklong mission for them turned into nine months as they waited for their opportunity to come home with a SpaceX crew.

When they climbed aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship on Tuesday, cruised through Earth orbit all day, and then plummeted back to Earth, they didn't know an oceanic welcoming committee would meet them.

spaceship burnt looking bobbing in ocean with a small motorboat of people approaching it and two dolphin fins in the water nearby — It started with a couple of dorsal fins peeking out.
NASA

As their spaceship bobbed in the ocean like a toasted marshmallow, smooth, gray dorsal fins began to peek above the water around it.

spaceship in ocean near small motorboat and barge with a dolphin visible just beneath the water in front of it — Then a dolphin was visible swimming just below the surface here and there.
NASA

"Here on your screen, we can see dolphins, actually, who want to come and play with Dragon," Kate Tice, a webcast host and senior quality systems engineering manager at SpaceX, said in the livestream.

spaceship floating in blue waters with a person climbing it and a group of dolphins just under the water nearby — When the camera zoomed out, a large group of dolphins were visible swimming around near the capsule.
NASA

The dolphins danced around the capsule for several minutes as a SpaceX recovery crew checked the area for hazardous fumes and prepared the spaceship to get hauled onto a barge. There appeared to be at least six of them.