Two Nasa astronauts stranded on the International Space Station for nine months have returned to earth after being rescued by a SpaceX capsule, splashing down off the coast of Florida on Tuesday evening.
US astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were scheduled to be in orbit for only eight days, but became trapped after a Boeing Starliner spacecraft was deemed unfit to travel because of thruster problems and helium leaks on the outward journey.
SpaceX’s Dragon capsule docked with the ISS on Sunday, delivering four new crew members from the US, Japan and Russia. Fellow astronauts Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov travelled back to earth with Williams and Wilmore.