NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 accomplished the company’s ninth industrial crew rotation mission to the Worldwide Area Station on Tuesday, splashing down safely in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, within the Gulf of America.
NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, returned to Earth at 5:57 p.m. EDT. Groups aboard SpaceX restoration vessels retrieved the spacecraft and its crew. After returning to shore, the crew will fly to NASA’s Johnson Area Heart in Houston and reunite with their households.
“We’re thrilled to have Suni, Butch, Nick, and Aleksandr dwelling after their months-long mission conducting very important science, expertise demonstrations, and upkeep aboard the Worldwide Area Station,” mentioned NASA appearing Administrator Janet Petro. “Per President Trump’s course, NASA and SpaceX labored diligently to tug the schedule a month earlier. This worldwide crew and our groups on the bottom embraced the Trump Administration’s problem of an up to date, and considerably distinctive, mission plan, to carry our crew dwelling. By way of preparation, ingenuity, and dedication, we obtain nice issues collectively for the advantage of humanity, pushing the boundaries of what’s doable from low Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars.”
Hague and Gorbunov lifted off at 1:17 p.m. Sept. 28, 2024, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Area Launch Advanced 40 at Cape Canaveral Area Drive Station in Florida. The following day, they docked to the forward-facing port of the station’s Concord module. Williams and Wilmore launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft and United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on June 5, 2024, from Area Launch Advanced 41 as a part of the company’s Boeing Crew Flight Take a look at. The duo arrived on the house station on June 6. In August, NASA introduced the uncrewed return of Starliner to Earth and built-in Wilmore and Williams as a part of the house station’s Expedition 71/72 for a return on Crew-9. The crew of 4 undocked at 1:05 a.m. Tuesday to start the journey dwelling.
Williams and Wilmore traveled 121,347,491 miles throughout their mission, spent 286 days in house, and accomplished 4,576 orbits round Earth. Hague and Gorbunov traveled 72,553,920 miles throughout their mission, spent 171 days in house, and accomplished 2,736 orbits round Earth. The Crew-9 mission was the primary spaceflight for Gorbunov. Hague has logged 374 days in house over his two missions, Williams has logged 608 days in house over her three flights, and Wilmore has logged 464 days in house over his three flights.
All through its mission, Crew-9 contributed to a number of science and upkeep actions and expertise demonstrations. Williams carried out two spacewalks, joined by Wilmore for one and Hague for an additional, eradicating a radio frequency group antenna meeting from the station’s truss, accumulating samples from the station’s exterior floor for evaluation, putting in patches to cowl broken areas of sunshine filters on an X-ray telescope, and extra. Williams now holds the file for whole spacewalking time by a feminine astronaut, with 62 hours and 6 minutes exterior of station, and is fourth on the all-time spacewalk length checklist.
The American crew members carried out greater than 150 distinctive scientific experiments and expertise demonstrations between them, with over 900 hours of analysis. This analysis included investigations on plant progress and high quality, in addition to the potential of stem cell expertise to handle blood illnesses, autoimmune problems, and cancers. Additionally they examined lighting techniques to assist astronauts preserve circadian rhythms, loaded the first wood satellite tv for pc for deployment, and took samples from the house station’s exterior to review whether or not microorganisms can survive in house.
The Crew-9 mission was the fourth flight of the Dragon spacecraft named Freedom. It additionally beforehand supported NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4, Axiom Mission 2, and Axiom Mission 3. The spacecraft will return to Florida for inspection and processing at SpaceX’s refurbishing facility at Cape Canaveral Area Drive Station, the place groups will examine the Dragon, analyze knowledge on its efficiency, and start processing for its subsequent flight.
The Crew-9 flight is a part of NASA’s Industrial Crew Program, and its return to Earth follows on the heels of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 launch, which docked to the station on March 16, starting one other long-duration science expedition.
The objective of NASA’s Industrial Crew Program is secure, dependable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the house station and low Earth orbit. This system supplies further analysis time and has elevated alternatives for discovery aboard humanity’s microgravity testbed for exploration, together with serving to NASA put together for human exploration of the Moon and Mars.
Be taught extra about NASA’s Industrial Crew Program at:
https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
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Amber Jacobson / Joshua Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
amber.c.jacobson@nasa.gov / joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov
Kenna Pell / Sandra Jones
Johnson Area Heart, Houston
281-483-5111
kenna.m.pell@nasa.gov / sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
Steve Siceloff / Stephanie Plucinsky
Kennedy Area Heart, Florida
321-867-2468
steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov / stephanie.n.plucinsky@nasa.gov
