NASA Astronauts Finally Return to Earth, Almost 9 Months Delayed

“And there you see it on your screen. Drogue deployment.” “Dragon Freedom continues to make its way back to planet Earth. You can see those, those parachutes continuing to slow the Dragon capsule down.” “And splashdown. Crew-9 back on Earth.” [cheers] “Some harnessing being placed around the capsule. This harnessing is what will be used to lift the Dragon capsule out of the water and onto the recovery vessel. Wow, we got a cute little pod of dolphins. It wasn’t just one or two. The capsule will be placed inside of what you can see there is basically a basket. We call it the nest.” “Now working to get that spacecraft situated in the nest. And there you have it. The side hatch is open for the first time since September.” “It looks like we’re getting our next crew member here. That is none other than Suni Williams. Big smile, big waves.” “And of course that leaves NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore.” “And undocking confirmed. Freedom is free of its moorings. The Dragon hatch was closed at 10:05 p.m. Central time.” “Deorbit burn complete. Performance nominal. Nose cone closure initiated.” “Now, there. There’s Butch coming in through the hatch. All right. So I’m going to lead you down through the PMA, PMA 2 into Starliner.”