Stranded NASA astronauts have landed back on Earth

In perfect weather conditions, Sunita "Suni" Williams and Barry "Butch" Wilmore and two other astronauts landed with the "Crew Dragon" space capsule in the sea off the coast of the US state of Florida at 17:57 local time, as live images from the US space agency Nasa showed.

Before the launch of the space capsule, live broadcasts from the space agency showed the astronauts dressed in spacesuits, boots and helmets. Suni Williams and Barry Wilmore were originally supposed to stay on board the International Space Station (ISS) for around a week but, due to a glitch, this turned into a good nine months. Now their long wait has come to an end.

On board the "Crew Dragon" space capsule from Elon Musk's company SpaceX, they and two other space travelers took off on Tuesday morning for the 17-hour flight back to Earth.

Williams and Wilmore, two former Navy pilots and experienced NASA astronauts, flew to the ISS last June in a Starliner spacecraft from the US aerospace company Boeing. However, due to a technical problem with the Starliner, it returned to Earth without them. Since then, the two astronauts have been stuck on the ISS waiting for a return flight opportunity.

NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Scott Tingle look inside the spacecraft after it returned to Earth without a crew in September. Following the Starliner's technical problems, the US space agency NASA was forced to entrust the return of the two astronauts to Elon Musk's space company SpaceX — a blow for the US company Boeing.

In September, NASA and SpaceX sent only Nick Hague and cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov into space instead of the four astronauts originally planned, so as to keep two places free for Williams and Wilmore on the return journey. Since then, the two have been waiting to be replaced by the next planned ISS crew. Their arrival was initially scheduled for February, but was then delayed until March.

In the meantime, the two astronauts carried out numerous experiments. "Every day is interesting," said Williams at the beginning of March. "Waiting for the return was especially hard for the families, who literally went through an uphill and downhill journey," she said.

The return to Earth was eagerly anticipated: "We're coming, we'll be back soon, so don't plan anything without me," joked 59-year-old Williams recently, laughing in the direction of her family. "We were prepared to stay for a long time, although we expected to stay for a very short time," said her 62-year-old colleague Butch Wilmore. After all, that's what their training is for.

At the weekend, the four-person "Crew 10" finally arrived at the International Space Station ISS to replace "Crew 9" on board the ISS. US astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov are to remain in space until the fall.