What went right this week: the good news that matters

A 120m mile space odyssey reached a happy ending this week as four intrepid explorers returned from the final frontier after months marooned in orbit. 

Nasa astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, along with their Russian colleague Aleksandr Gorbunov, were greeted by a pod of dolphins as their SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida.

Williams and Wilmore had set out for what was meant to be a week-long mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in June last year, but were left stranded by technical problems. Hague and Gorbunov had been on the ISS since September.

Wilmore and Williams travelled some 121,347,491 miles (195,289,856 km) in the course of their nine-month mission, completing 4,576 laps of the Earth. Williams also returned a record-holder after logging 62 spacewalking hours, the most clocked up by a female astronaut.

“We are thrilled to have Suni, Butch, Nick and Aleksandr home after their months-long mission conducting vital science, technology demonstrations, and maintenance aboard the International Space Station,” said Nasa acting administrator Janet Petro.

Image: NASA/Keegan Barber

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