Florida: NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have returned to Earth safely after their Crew 9 Dragon Spacecraft splashdown safely off the coast of Florida.
A SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship carrying the two astronauts, alongside American Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, streaked through the atmosphere before deploying parachutes for a gentle splashdown off the Florida coast at 3:27 am IST.
The two astronauts flew to the orbital lab in June last year on what was supposed to be a days-long roundtrip to test Boeing’s Starliner on its first crewed flight. The spaceship, however, developed propulsion problems and was deemed unfit to fly back and later returned empty.
NASA’s Entry Systems & Technology Division plays a crucial role in designing materials and systems that ensure a safe return to Earth. The Ames Research Centre in California has been at the forefront of reentry technology since 1961. Using heat shields, parachutes, and advanced software, NASA engineers develop solutions that help spacecraft survive the fiery descent.
Due to the intense loss of body mass and muscle density during their stay in space, both Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will have to undergo 45 days of rehabilitation to adjust to life on Earth.
During their rehabilitation period, the health condition of the NASA astronauts will be closely tracked to make sure there is no vision impairment, muscle loss, balance issue, and bone density loss.
Even though both NASA astronauts were stuck in space for nine months, the administration decided not to rush the mission but rather reassign the pair to SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission, which arrived at the ISS last September.
Crew-9’s mission was reduced from four astronauts to two to make room for Williams and Wilmore. On Sunday morning, Crew-9 bid a heartfelt farewell to their ISS colleagues after the arrival of their replacements, Crew-10.
Sunita Williams, along with astronaut Butch Wilmore, were on a Boeing Starliner spacecraft to test its maiden crewed voyage in June 2024 and went on space expedition for a little over a week.
But the Boeing Starliner suffered propulsion issues and was deemed unfit by the space administration to fly the duo astronauts back to Earth. Since then, Williams has been on the ISS, waiting for the replacement shuttle to land back on the Earth.
