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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said this week that astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore completed the work required to return aboard the SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft in February 2025. The Crew 9 Dragon spacecraft is now NASA’s “emergency return spacecraft” for astronauts. Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, and Roscosmos astronaut Alexander Gorbunov.
As part of preparations, two Starliner astronauts — Sunita and Butch — tried on their SpaceX Intravehicular Activity spacesuits for the first time Tuesday, NASA said in its latest update on Oct. 1.
He also tested the suit’s audio configuration and conducted seat-fit checks inside the Dragon spacecraft while wearing the suit. Later, four astronauts – Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague and Alexander Gorbunov – conducted emergency drills inside Dragon attached 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 in February 2025 with SpaceX Crew 9 astronauts Hague and Gorbunov.
The SpaceX Crew 9 mission was launched to the space station on September 29 with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos astronaut Alexander Gorbunov.
Williams and Wilmore will remain aboard the space station as Expedition 72 crew members and complete a science mission aboard the space station. He launched in June aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.
Starliner was scheduled to return with its crew in mid-June. However, Starliner’s return was delayed due to technical problems with the spacecraft. Later in August, NASA decided to land Starliner without its crew and bring Williams and Wilmore back aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in February.
SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon – ‘Emergency Return Spacecraft’
“With the completion of testing, Crew-9 Dragon is now the normal and emergency return spacecraft for a four-person crew,” NASA said.
Previously, the Crew-8 Dragon spacecraft served as the 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 spacecraft’s departure from the space station. Crew 9 will replace Crew-8 and Crew-8 will soon return to Earth.
“The Crew-8 spacecraft and the crew of NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barrett and Janet Epps, as well as Roscosmos astronaut Alexander Grebenkin are scheduled to return to Earth in about a week, weathering the splashdown areas. “Depending on conditions off the coast of Florida,” NASA said in an October 1 update.
The homebound SpaceX Crew-8 quartet is packing personal items and other station cargo inside Endeavor for the ride home.
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