Sunita Williams Return: NASA has shared some fascinating statistics on the return of Crew-9 to Earth. NASA astronauts Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Nick Hague, along with Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, successfully landed back on Earth at approximately 3:30 AM IST on Wednesday, March 19. Their highly anticipated return was watched closely worldwide.
As the four astronauts splashed down off the coast of Florida, NASA highlighted several key figures related to the SpaceX Crew-9 mission. Here’s what the numbers reveal:
10 Key Facts About the Crew-9 Mission:
1. Sunita Williams Sets a Record: She now holds the second-most time in space among U.S. astronauts.
2. Journey and Duration: Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore traveled an incredible 121,347,491 miles, spending 286 days in space, and completed 4,576 orbits around Earth.
3. Mission Duration Ranking: While their 286-day stay exceeded the usual six-month International Space Station (ISS) rotation, it is the sixth-longest single-mission duration for a U.S. astronaut.
4. Hague and Gorbunov’s Mission Stats: They traveled 72,553,920 miles, spent 171 days in space, and completed 2,736 orbits around Earth.
5. Total Time in Space:
- Sunita Williams has now accumulated 608 days in space over her three flights.
- Butch Wilmore has logged 464 days over three missions.
- Nick Hague has spent 374 days across two spaceflights.
- Aleksandr Gorbunov completed his first spaceflight with Crew-9.
6. Scientific Contributions: Crew-9 performed over 150 scientific experiments and technology demonstrations, contributing more than 900 hours of research in space.
7. Spacecraft Traffic: During their time on the ISS, Wilmore and Williams witnessed eight different visiting vehicles.
8. Spacewalks:
- Sunita Williams completed two spacewalks.
- Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague conducted one spacewalk each.
9. Spacewalking Records: Williams now holds the record for the most spacewalking time by a woman astronaut at 62 hours and 6 minutes, placing her fourth on the all-time spacewalk duration list.
10. Dragon Capsule’s Fourth Flight: The Crew-9 mission marked the fourth flight of the Dragon spacecraft ‘Freedom’, which previously supported NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4, Axiom Mission 2, and Axiom Mission 3.
Crew-9’s Splashdown and Return to Earth
The SpaceX capsule carrying Williams, Wilmore, Hague, and Gorbunov made a safe return to Earth, parachuting into the Gulf of Mexico on March 19, just hours after departing the ISS. The splashdown occurred off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, marking the conclusion of their unexpected extended stay.
“What a ride,” exclaimed Nick Hague, who served as the capsule’s commander. “I see a capsule full of grins ear to ear,” he added.
As the crew awaited recovery, dolphins were seen circling the capsule while divers prepared it for hoisting onto the retrieval ship. Once aboard, the astronauts were helped out of the capsule one by one. Sunita Williams was the next-to-last to emerge, followed by Wilmore, who gave a celebratory two-gloved thumbs-up.
Their return marks another milestone in space exploration, demonstrating resilience, scientific achievement, and the ever-growing capabilities of human spaceflight.
