Promise made, promise kept: Trump hails return of astronauts, thanks Elon Musk

California: The White House on Tuesday highlighted how US President Donald Trump prioritised the return of stranded NASA Crew-9 astronauts Sunita Williams, Nick Hague, Butch Wilmore, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. "PROMISE MADE, PROMISE KEPT: President Trump pledged to rescue the astronauts stranded in space for nine months.Elon Musk congratulated the NASA and SpaceX teams on their successful return and thanked Trump for prioritising the mission.Earlier in the day, NASA Crew-9 astronauts breathed earthly air for the first time in over nine months following the successful splashdown of SpaceX's Dragon capsule. This precaution is taken by SpaceX for all astronauts returning from long-duration space missions.Delays caused by issues with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, which surfaced during a test flight piloted by Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams last summer, led to the astronaut duo remaining in space for nine months instead of a week, CNN reported.NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 completed the agency's ninth commercial crew rotation mission to the International Space Station on Tuesday, splashing down safely in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, in the Gulf of America, according to a NASA statement.NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Sunita Williams, and Butch Wilmore, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, returned to Earth at 5:57 pm EDT. The spacecraft will now undergo inspection and refurbishment at SpaceX's Cape Canaveral facility for future missions.Crew-9's return follows the launch of NASA's SpaceX Crew-10, which docked with the station on March 16, beginning another long-duration mission.NASA's Commercial Crew Program aims to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station and low Earth orbit.