American space agency NASA's astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, along with two other astronauts, have set off to return to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday. The entire world is watching this expedition with keen interest. After nearly nine months in space, the astronauts are charting their course back home aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule.
Initially sent to the ISS for a few weeks, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore found themselves marooned for nine months due to a malfunction in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft. India Today documents, through images, the landing process of the SpaceX Dragon capsule in the ocean off the Florida coast, which occurred after a 17-hour journey early Wednesday morning.
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The return expedition of Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will be accomplished in seven stages.
This story began in June, when the Starliner, nearing the space station, experienced a temporary thruster failure but managed to dock successfully. After months of troubleshooting, NASA officials decided to secure the spacecraft, and in September, it returned to Earth without astronauts.
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However, this meant Williams and Wilmore needed a new ride home, akin to rebooking a flight after a cancellation. NASA, usually rotating four astronauts every six months at the station, had to accommodate their extended stay along with the presence of other astronauts.
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On June 6, 2024, the Boeing Starliner carrying Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore docked at the ISS. The astronauts were aided by colleagues, including NASA's Nick Hague and Roscosmos' Alexander Gorbunov. They, along with two astronauts each from Russia, Japan, and America, are set to assist in this mission.
Source: aajtak
After a two-day handover, the old crew commenced their earthly return on Tuesday. The journey will culminate with a splashdown on Florida's coast, scheduled for early Wednesday morning (IST). The SpaceX Dragon will traverse several phases to distance itself from the space station, re-enter Earth's atmosphere, and perform numerous orbit exercises before the final splashdown.
Source: aajtak
Source: aajtak
Source: aajtak
NASA's Crew-9 astronauts Nick Hague, Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos' Alexander Gorbunov are on board. Hague and Gorbunov had taken flight on the Dragon to the space station when Falcon 9 launched the spacecraft from Florida's Kennedy Space Center on September 28, 2024.
