Key Points
NASA Crew-9 successfully splashes down in SpaceX Dragon capsule
Williams spent 9 months at International Space Station
Astronauts retrieved and preparing to reunite with families
Mission involved critical scientific research and maintenance
"When she returned, we jumped with joy... I was so happy... Till yesterday, I had an unsettling feeling deep in my heart... God has listened to our prayers and brought our Suni back safely... Sunita is not an ordinary person... She will change the world," Dinesh Rawal told ANI.
Earlier, NASA Crew-9 astronauts breathed earthly air for the first time in over nine months following the successful splashdown of SpaceX's Dragon capsule. The astronauts disembarked the capsule on stretchers, as is customary, CNN reported. This precaution is taken by SpaceX for all astronauts returning from long-duration space missions.
Delays caused by issues with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, which surfaced during a test flight piloted by Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams last summer, led to the astronaut duo remaining in space for nine months instead of a week, CNN reported.
NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 completed the agency's ninth commercial crew rotation mission to the International Space Station on Tuesday, splashing down safely in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, in the Gulf of America, according to a NASA statement.
NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Sunita Williams, and Butch Wilmore, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, returned to Earth at 5:57 pm EDT. Teams aboard SpaceX recovery vessels retrieved the spacecraft and its crew. After returning to shore, the astronauts will travel to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to 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 International Space Station," said NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro.
Hague and Gorbunov lifted off on September 28, 2024, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The next day, they docked at the forward-facing port of the station's Harmony module.
Williams and Wilmore launched on June 5, 2024, aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft and a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41, as part of the agency's Boeing Crew Flight Test. They arrived at the space station on June 6, 2024. In August, NASA decided to return the Starliner uncrewed and integrated Wilmore and Williams into Expedition 71/72 for their return via Crew-9.
The Crew-9 mission was the fourth flight of the Dragon spacecraft named Freedom, which previously supported NASA's SpaceX Crew-4, Axiom Mission 2, and Axiom Mission 3. The spacecraft will now undergo inspection and refurbishment at SpaceX's Cape Canaveral facility for future missions.
