Flipping for joy! Dolphins greet NASA astronauts back to Earth after splashdown
It was a homecoming that made everyone – and everything – flip for joy.
A pod of dolphins swam up to the spot where the SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down on Tuesday off Florida's coast. The capsule carried four astronauts, including NASA's Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who spent an unplanned 280 days on the International Space Station after experiencing issues with the Boeing Starliner during its first crewed test flight last June.
The dolphins' reaction near the capsule quickly captured the hearts of social media users. NASA's Johnson Space Center posted a video on X calling the sea mammals "the unplanned welcome crew!"
“Crew-9 had some surprise visitors after splashing down this afternoon,” the space center added, ending the post with a dolphin emoji.
Within hours, the video had been viewed 1.8 million times and attracted hundreds of comments.
A dolphin welcome crew
The dolphins appeared and began swimming around the fast boat team working to secure the capsule as it bobbed in calm, brilliant blue waters.
Dolphins are often seen in the Gulf of America, recently renamed by President Donald Trump from the Gulf of Mexico. Nine dolphin species are found in the Gulf, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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The most common species is the bottlenose dolphin, the only species found in all Gulf coastal habitats.
Other species include the Atlantic spotted dolphin and the Risso's dolphin.