Moments after SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft touched down in the waters off the Florida coast, they were surrounded by several dolphins swimming by the capsule.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Four astronauts received a welcome only possible on Earth after returning from the International Space Station as curious dolphins swam up to their SpaceX spacecraft bobbing in the water off the Gulf Coast of Florida.
On Tuesday evening, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams and Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov landed off Florida’s Gulf Coast in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, where NASA and SpaceX teams were waiting on boats to greet the astronaut crew.
SpaceX recovery teams can check “swimming with dolphins” off their bucket lists after a pod of dolphins greeted the fast boats and the Dragon spacecraft bobbed in the water like a toasted marshmallow. The Dragon uses two sets of parachutes to slow down from 17,500 mph as it enters Earth’s atmosphere to a few miles per hour for splashdown.
“Here on your screen, we can see dolphins, actually, who want to come and play with Dragon,” joked SpaceX engineer Kate Tice during the landing livestream on Tuesday.
Tice called the dolphins “honorary” members of the recovery crew.
Support teams work around a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft shortly after it landed with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore are returning from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station.
(Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber))
The NASA photo above shows the dolphin fins gliding above the water near the capsule, where the four astronauts inside waited for help out of the spacecraft.
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The pod of about eight dolphins continued to swim nearby as the Dragon was brought aboard the SpaceX recovery vessel, Megan.
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Dolphins swim around a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft shortly after it landed with four astronauts in the waters off the coast of Florida. (NASA)
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Support teams work around a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft shortly after it landed with four astronauts as dolphins swim in the waters off the coast of Florida. (NASA)
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Dolphins swim around a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft shortly after it landed with four astronauts in the waters off the coast of Florida. (NASA)
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Support teams work around a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft shortly after it landed with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore are returning from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station. (Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber))
Wilmore and Williams are finally back on Earth, nearly nine months later than originally scheduled. They joined the Crew-9 mission on the SpaceX Freedom Dragon capsule for their return after the Boeing Starliner capsule experienced a series of problems during its first crewed flight to the space station in June.
NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, left, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, second from left, and NASA astronauts Nick Hague, second from right, and Suni Williams, right are seen inside a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery ship MEGAN shortly after having landed in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore are returning from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station.
(Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber))
NASA ultimately decided to send Williams and Wilmore’s Starliner spacecraft back to Earth without them as they waited on a new ride home from SpaceX.
After 286 days in space and a greeting fitting for the only place we know of that has life, Williams and Wilmore, along with their fellow Crew-9, were flown back to Houston on Tuesday where they were reunited with their families.