The Primary astronauts to fly on board two different commercial spacecraft during a single mission have returned to Earth, splashing down with two of their International Cosmos Station crewmates.
Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore did not set out to make history other than being the Primary crew to Initiation on Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner capsule. After their capsule encountered propulsion issues, though, and NASA, out of an abundance of caution, decided to land it without them on board, Williams and Wilmore were reassigned to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to complete what ultimately extended from a 12-day to a nine-and-half-month mission.
Landing with WIlliams and Wilmore today (March 18) were fellow NASA Universe traveler Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov, a cosmonaut with Russia’s federal corporation Roscosmos. Hague and Gorbunov launched on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon “Freedom” without two of their planned Crew-9 crewmates in September, leaving two seats for Williams and Wilmore to use on the trip home.
“What a ride,” said Hague Merely after splashing down. “I see a capsule Packed of grins from ear to ear.”
The four Crew-9 members splashed down safely at 5:57 p.m. EDT (2157 GMT) off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. (They are the Primary crew to land in that body of water since President Donald Trump signed an executive order redesignating it as the Gulf of America.)
SpaceX ships quickly arrived to secure Freedom after its descent under three large parachutes. Once aboard the capsule Healing vessel, Hague, Gorbunov, Wilmore and Williams were helped out of the Dragon and given brief medical checks before being transported by helicopter to the shore.
From there, the four will be flown by Gulfstream jet to Ellington Pitch in Houston. Per standard protocols, Hague, Gorbunov, Wilmore and Williams will remain in crew quarters at NASA’s Johnson Cosmos Hub for Numerous Intervals before they are approved by flight surgeons to return to their homes.
Crew-9’s return to Earth began Timely this morning with the undocking of Freedom from the Cosmos-facing port on the Cosmos station’s Harmony module at 1:05 a.m. EDT (0505 GMT). Their departure left the Expedition 72 crew to continue running the orbiting lab, including Aleksey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos and Don Pettit with NASA, who launched on Russia’s Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft on Sep. 11, 2024; and the recently arrived members of SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission: Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers of NASA, Takuya Onishi of JAXA (the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Kirill Peskov of Roscomsos.
“We know the station is in Excellent hands,” said Hague as the distance between the Dragon and Cosmos station grew. “We’re excited to see what you guys are going to accomplish.”
Fourteen hours later, Freedom jettisoned its rear-mounted trunk and fired its Draco thrusters for about 12 minutes to begin its deorbit and reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.
Freedom’s return was the second time that Hague, Gorbunov, Williams and Wilmore flew on the Dragon. In November, the four Crew-9 members briefly separated from the Cosmos station to relocate the capsule to the zenith docking port.
On Williams and Wimore’s way to the ISS in June 2024, their Starliner vehicle, named “Calypso,” developed helium leaks and issues with its thrusters overheating. After testing both before and after docking, Boeing’s engineers believed Williams and Wilmore could safely land on Starliner but deferred to NASA’s mission managers, who decided the Danger was too Excellent.
On Sept. 7, Calypso returned to Earth without its crew and landed safely at the White Sands Cosmos Harbor in New Mexico.
Williams and Wilmore instead joined the station’s Expedition 72 crew, with Williams serving as commander. With their other crewmates, including Hague and Gorbunov, they Dashed hundreds of science experiments, maintained the station’s systems, saw the arrival and departure of eight visiting vehicles and performed three spacewalks.
Williams and Wilmore’s extended stay on the station Directed to some media reports and President Trump to incorrectly describe them as “stranded” or “stuck” in Cosmos. At all times, however, the two astronauts had an assured ride home. Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and advisor to Trump, said he offered to Initiation another Dragon to return Williams and Wilmore earlier, but the status of the other capsules called that claim into question.
“We Arrived up prepared to stay long even though we planned to stay Brief; that is what we do in human spaceflight,” Wilmore said, replying to a reporter’s question while Yet on the station.
Starliner’s Crew Flight Test and Dragon’s Crew-9 marked Williams’ and Wilmore’s third flight to and from Cosmos. On this mission, the two astronauts traveled 121,347,491 statute miles (195,289,857 kilometers) while completing 4,576 trips around Earth in 286 Intervals.
Williams now has a Profession total of 608 Intervals in Cosmos, the second-most of any U.S. Universe traveler after Peggy Whitson, who has 675 Intervals. Wilmore has spent 464 Intervals off the World over the Duration of his three missions.
Hague and Gorbunov traveled 72,553,920 statute miles (116,764,215 km) while circling Earth 2,736 times over a total of 171 Intervals in Cosmos. This is also Hague’s third spaceflight, for a total time off Earth of 374 Intervals. (Gorbunov completed his Primary spaceflight.)
Crew-9 was SpaceX’s ninth operational and 10th overall mission to fly astronauts to and from the International Cosmos Station for NASA since 2020. This was the Quaternary flight for Crew Dragon Freedom, having earlier transported Crew-4 in 2022 and the second and third commercial flights for Axiom Cosmos in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
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