Chennai, Mar 19 (UNI) The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA)’s SpaceX

Crew-9, comprising India born Woman Astronaut Sunita Williams and three others, completed the agency’s ninth commercial crew rotation mission to the International Space Station (ISS), splashing down safely in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, in the Gulf of America on early Wednesday morning at 0327 hrs (IST).

In a press release on its website, NASA said its astronauts Nick Hague, Sunita Williams, and Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, returned to Earth at 5:57 p.m. EDT.

Teams aboard SpaceX recovery vessels retrieved the spacecraft and its crew.

Upon returning to shore, the crew will fly to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and reunite with their families.

“We are thrilled to have Suni, Butch, Nick, and Aleksandr home after their months-long mission conducting vital science, technology demonstrations, and maintenance aboard the ISS", said

NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro.

“Per President Trump’s direction, NASA and SpaceX worked diligently to pull the schedule a month earlier. This international crew and our teams on the ground embraced the Trump Administration’s challenge of an updated, and somewhat unique, mission plan, to bring our crew home. Through preparation, ingenuity, and dedication, we achieve great things together for the benefit of humanity, pushing the boundaries of what is possible from low Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars”, it said.

Hague and Gorbunov lifted off at 1:17 p.m. September 28, 2024, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The next day, they docked to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module. Williams and Wilmore launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft and United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on June 5, 2024, from Space Launch Complex 41 as part of the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test.

The duo arrived at the space station on June 6. In August, NASA announced the uncrewed return of Starliner to Earth and integrated Wilmore and Williams as part of the space station’s Expedition 71/72 for a return on Crew-9.

The crew of four undocked at 1:05 a.m. Tuesday to begin the trip home.

Williams and Wilmore traveled 121,347,491 miles during their mission, spent 286 days in space, and completed 4,576 orbits around Earth.

Hague and Gorbunov traveled 72,553,920 miles during their mission, spent 171 days in space, and completed 2,736 orbits around Earth.

The Crew-9 mission was the first spaceflight for Gorbunov. Hague has logged 374 days in space over his two missions, Williams has logged 608 days in space over her three flights, and Wilmore has logged 464 days in space over his three flights.

Throughout its mission, Crew-9 contributed to a host of science and maintenance activities and technology demonstrations.

Sunita Williams conducted two spacewalks, joined by Wilmore for one and Hague for another, removing a radio frequency group antenna assembly from the station’s truss, collecting samples

from the station’s external surface for analysis, installing patches to cover damaged areas of light filters on an X-ray telescope, and more.

She now holds the record for total spacewalking time by a female astronaut, with 62 hours and six minutes outside of station, and is fourth on the all-time spacewalk duration list.

The American crew members conducted more than 150 unique scientific experiments and technology demonstrations between them, with over 900 hours of research.

This research included investigations on plant growth and quality, as well as the potential of stem cell technology to address blood diseases, autoimmune disorders, and cancers.

They also tested lighting systems to help astronauts maintain circadian rhythms, loaded the first wooden satellite for deployment, and took samples from the space station’s exterior to study whether microorganisms can survive in space.

The Crew-9 mission was the fourth flight of the Dragon spacecraft named Freedom.

It also previously 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 Space Force Station, where teams will inspect the Dragon, analyze data on its performance, and begin processing for its next flight.

The Crew-9 flight is part of NASA’s Commercial 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, beginning another long-duration science expedition.

The goal of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the space station and low Earth orbit.

The program provides additional research time and has increased opportunities for discovery aboard humanity’s microgravity testbed for exploration, including helping NASA prepare for human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

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