NASA announced on X yesterday that an unexpected welcoming party showed up to greet returning astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams.
After splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico, recovery teams arrived by boat to help the astronauts out of the Crew 9 Dragon Capsule. But they weren’t alone — a pod of bottlenose dolphins swam up to check out the scene.
Wilmore and Williams had been stranded in space for 280 days due to a malfunction with the Boeing Starliner that took them to the International Space Station.
Their return, made possible by the new Crew 10 mission, was met with excitement from both humans and dolphins alike.
At first, only two dolphins appeared near the capsule. But soon, more joined in, catching the attention of the NASA live commentator. “Wow, we’ve got a cute little pod of dolphins — not just one or two,” she said.
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