The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said this week that astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore completed the work needed to return on SpaceX’s Dragon Freedom spacecraft in February 2025. The Crew 9 Dragon spacecraft is now the “emergency return spacecraft” for NASA astronauts. Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
As part of preparation, the two Starliner astronauts, Sunita and Butch, tried on their SpaceX Intravehicular Activity spacesuits for the first time on Tuesday, NASA said in its latest update on Oct. 1.
They also tested the suits’ audio settings and performed seat fit checks inside the Dragon spacecraft while wearing the suits. Later, the four astronauts – Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov – practiced emergency exercises inside the Dragon docked to the forward port of the space station’s Harmony module.
International Space Station Commander Sunita Williams and flight engineer Butch Wilmore will return to Earth along with SpaceX Crew 9 astronauts Hague and Gorbunov in February 2025.
He SpaceX Crew 9 mission launched with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the space station on September 29.
Williams and Wilmore will remain on the space station as members of the Expedition 72 crew, completing a scientific mission aboard the space station. They had boarded Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in June.
Starliner, with its crew, was due to return in mid-June. However, Starliner’s return was delayed due to technical problems on the spacecraft. Later in August, NASA decided Starliner without its crew and bring back Williams and Wilmore SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in February.
SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon: the ’emergency return spacecraft’
“Once the controls are completed, the Crew-9 Dragon is now the norm and emergency return spacecraft for the four-person crew,” NASA said.
Prior to this, the Crew-8 Dragon spacecraft served as an emergency return spacecraft for Williams and Wilmore.
The US space agency further explained that the temporary seats built inside the Crew-8 Dragon spacecraft will be dismantled by the crew before the ship leaves the space station. He Crew 9 will replace Crew-8 and the latter will soon return to Earth.
“He Spaceship Crew-8 and its crew of NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, are scheduled to return to Earth in about a week, depending on weather conditions at the splashdown areas in front to the coast of Florida.” NASA said in the October 1 update.
The homebound SpaceX Crew-8 quartet has been packing personal items and other station cargo inside Endeavor for the trip home.
Disclaimer:
The information contained in this post is for general information purposes only. We make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the post for any purpose.
We respect the intellectual property rights of content creators. If you are the owner of any material featured on our website and have concerns about its use, please contact us. We are committed to addressing any copyright issues promptly and will remove any material within 2 days of receiving a request from the rightful owner.