Video: Dolphins swim near SpaceX's Dragon capsule with Crew-9 inside, moments after splashdown

Fox13 ^ | 03/18/2025 | Josh Frigerio , Abigail Lafferty and Stuart Campbell

[BenLurkin]

A very Florida welcome home for NASA and SpaceX's Crew-9. Some curious dolphins seemingly wanted to give a personal "welcome home" to the Crew-9 astronauts, moments after they splashed down off the coast of Florida on Tuesday afternoon.

As the rescue teams surrounded SpaceX's Dragon capsule with NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov inside, a small pod of dolphins was seen swimming around the area. You can watch that moment in the video player above.

[HIDEK6]

“… off the coast of Florida.”

I guess it would kil them to say “… in the Gulf of America.”

They should have said that because yankees have no idea where Tallahassee is.

[Ronaldus Magnus III]

Be careful, dolphins! If an anti-Trump Federal District Court Judge gets wind of you dolphins getting too close to SpaceX / Musk, the Judge just might approve of dolphin hunting. Dolphin-free tuna fish will be frowned upon.

[JZelle]

Day of the Dolphin warning. Take heed!

[bigbob]

Dolphin-X

[kosciusko51]

“So long, and thanks for all the fish.”

[right way right]

Could be Chinese spy dolphins.👻

[Churchillspirit]

Even the animal kingdom is glad to see the astronauts return home.

Quite a welcome.......or did Elon Musk pay them to show up?

[FlingWingFlyer]

I imagine Bo Bo Roberts’ nasty Feral Monkees in Black Robes will be demanding that the dolphins be shot.

[rktman]

It was awesome! Eons old sea critters swimming by the space craft.

[kawhill]

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore return to Earth. “They will get some well-deserved time off, well-deserved time with their families,” NASA’s Commercial Crew Program chief Steve Stich told reporters after the splashdown. “It’s been a long time for them.” I sure would like to ask Steve some questions.

[Mark17]

or did Elon Musk pay them to show up?

Some left winger out there, will probably say that.

[silent majority rising]

Those were spy dolphins used by China...just sayin’.

[BipolarBob]

[crusty old prospector]

“And they call him Flipper, Flipper, Flipper.”

[Churchillspirit]

No doubt.

Related comment from The Bee....

Federal Judge orders astronauts to return to the ISS.!

[xp38]

I watched the video and yes off the coast of Florida / Tallahassee was used throughout but near the end Gulf of America was mentioned once.

[Mark17]

😆😜

[Hatteras]

Pha loves Pa...

[SaxxonWoods]

I figured Elon had them trained just for this occasion.