Prasanta Kumar Dash
New Delhi, Oct 3:International Space Station Commander Sunita Williams and spacecraft engineer Butch Wilmore are all set to return to the Mother Earth along with SpaceX Crew 9 astronauts Hague and Gorbunov in February 2025.
As an essential readiness, Sunita Williams has tried out on SpaceX suits for first time, to accustom herself ride on Crew-9 ' Emergency Return' spacecraft.
According to NASA, As part of the readiness, the two Starliner astronauts – Sunita and Butch tried on their SpaceX Intravehicular Activity spacesuits for the first time on Tuesday, NASA informed it in one of its recent statements.
The space scientist also tested the suits’ audio configurations and conducted seat-fit checks inside the Dragon spacecraft while wearing the suits.
Later, the four astronauts – Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov – practiced emergency drills inside the Dragon docked to the space station's Harmony module’s forward port.
Prettily before it, all the technical and security check ups were concluded in the ‘Emergency Return Spacecraft’ SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon
"With the checks completed, the Crew-9 Dragon now is almost ready to take up its return journey as soon as possible, informed NASA authorities.
The US space agency further explained that the temporary seats built up inside the Crew-8 Dragon spacecraft will be dismantled by the crew prior to the spacecraft’s departure from the space station. The Crew 9 will replace Crew-8 and the latter will return to Earth soon."The Crew-8 spacecraft and its crew of NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, are scheduled to return to Earth in about a week, depending on weather conditions in the splashdown zones off the coast of Florida," NASA said in October 1 update.
The homebound SpaceX Crew-8 quartet has been packing personal items and other station cargo inside Endeavour for the ride home.
Before this, Crew-8 Dragon spacecraft was serving as an emergency return spacecraft for Williams and Wilmore however the Space Station Commander and her team were left stranded in the space due to technical problems in the vehicle.
Acting on the unprecedented technical glitches, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) managed to launch an alternative spacecraft to being the space scientists soon.
Underlining the development for the comedown mission, the NASA said this week that the astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore completed the basic works required to return on the SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft in February 2025.
The Crew 9 Dragon spacecraft will now work as the “Emergency Return spacecraft” for NASA astronauts Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
