VIDEO: Dolphins Greet Stranded NASA Astronauts As They Finally Splash Down Back On Earth

A pod of dolphins were seen swimming near the SpaceX Dragon Capsule after it splashed down in the waters off Florida’s Gulf Coast on March 18. NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov returned to Earth, splashing down off Tallahassee, at 5:57 pm EDT. Hague and Gorbunov had been at the International Space Station for 171 days after arriving there on  Sept. 29, 2024, while Williams and Wilmore spent 286 days in space after docking on June 6, 2024. This video, which was part of NASA’s live-streamed coverage, shows dolphins in the water near the Dragon Capsule ahead of it being lifted onto the recovery vessel. “The unplanned welcome crew! Crew-9 had some surprise visitors after splashing down this afternoon,” NASA’s Johnson Space Center wrote to X. (Credit: NASA’s Johnson Space Center via Storyful)