Astronauts Stranded In Space For 9 Months Greeted By Pod Of Dolphins During Splashdown In The Gulf Of America

What a way to be welcomed back to planet Earth.

Today was a big day for SpaceX and the four astronauts returning from the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov were a part of a four-person crew that returned to Earth later in the day on Tuesday.

They were accompanied by NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams, and if those names sound familiar, that’s because you’ve probably heard them in the news over the past nine months.

Wilmore and Williams had originally traveled up to the International Space Station for a week-long mission in June of 2024. They traveled up to the ISS in a Boeing Starliner on a mission that was really designed to test the strength of the spacecraft. And it was certainly a test, as the Starliner suffered multiple helium leaks and experienced thruster issues. NASA opted to send the aircraft back down to Earth without anyone aboard, which left the pair of astronauts stranded up in space until the next mission.

All in all, the trip that was supposed to last 8 days ended up lasting 286. It was only when Elon Musk’s SpaceX stepped in to help bring them home that the astronauts were able to prepare to go back to Earth. Musk and Trump had implied that the astronauts could have been saved earlier, but former President Joe Biden decided to leave them there until after the November election. There’s some belief that Trump “expedited” the process for SpaceX to bring the astronauts back home.

Back in September, a SpaceX Dragon capsule was launched with a crew of two astronauts, and left two seats open for Wilmore and Williams to eventually return in. Fast forward to today, and the four-person crew of Hague, Gorbunov, Wilmore and Williams exited the International Space Station in the capsule and began their decent back down to Earth. They splashed down in the Gulf of America (off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida) and SpaceX Mission Control welcomed them back with this message:

“On behalf of SpaceX, welcome home.”

Splashdown of Dragon confirmed – welcome back to Earth, Nick, Suni, Butch, and Aleks! pic.twitter.com/M4RZ6UYsQ2

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 18, 2025

That’s a beautiful sight right there, and the ocean couldn’t have been calmer for their return.

After the successful splash down, recovery crews worked tirelessly to haul in the capsule and bring it up onto the vessel that was stationed near the expected splashdown site. But while the capsule – with the four astronauts safely inside – floated in the water, there were some unexpected visitors that acted as a welcome party:

The unplanned welcome crew!

Crew-9 had some surprise visitors after splashing down this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/yuOxtTsSLV

— NASA's Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) March 18, 2025

Having a pod of dolphins welcome you back to Earth has to be a good sign, right?

I’ve seen a number of splash downs in my day and I don’t think I’ve ever seen dolphins swim around the floating capsule. Definitely a cool sight to see, and considering the circumstance of having two astronauts return after a surprising amount of time spent in space, it only made since that they had some surprise visitors.

Social media certainly agreed:

That is the best. Even the dolphins saying welcome back

— Bettie (@bett17446) March 18, 2025

Earth brought out a welcome party for Crew-9.

— Blaze (@gomeaf314) March 18, 2025

Wonderful welcome from delightful dolphins

— Liana Herrera (@lianan) March 18, 2025

All it needs is a rainbow at this point.

— A. Pettit (@PettitFrontier) March 18, 2025

Could not have been more perfect!

— Mirjana Hrgovcic (@TetaMiki2) March 18, 2025

That was the coolest landing yet

— Jacki (@JackiVibe) March 18, 2025

They did that on porpoise…

— Andy Renfrew (@AndyRenfrew) March 18, 2025

Once the floating capsule was fished out of the ocean and placed into the boat, the recovery crew slowly started the process of getting the astronauts out. There were smiles and thumbs-ups all around as the four members of the crew were pulled from the capsule and taken inside for a customary medical check-up.

And I’m sure they’ll be happy to find out that mother nature checked up on them as soon as they landed…