It has taken months to prepare for this return. Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and their crew have been in space for nine months, waiting to return home. The 10-day trip that was initially planned has now stretched on for several months. This is because the Boeing Starliner, which was to take them home, had thruster problems that forced it to scrap the original plan.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has brought Williams and Wilmore back to terra firma. The Dragon spacecraft with four Crew 9 astronauts aboard, including Williams and Wilmore as well as Commander Nick Hague, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, began its return journey early Tuesday morning.
The return of Crew 9 was broadcast live for those who were eager to see it.
SpaceX has announced that Dragon’s trunk will be jettisoned and the deorbit burn is complete. We watched the Drogue parachutes, and then the main chute deploy.
As planned, Crew 9 with the Dragon capsule splashed into the Gulf of America around 5:57 pm Eastern. Welcome home to them!
Musk’s SpaceX has its sights set on Mars in 2026. However, the safe return of the two astronauts who have been away from their homes since June 2024, is unquestionably an important win for both the astronauts and SpaceX. It also bodes well for the future space flight.
