This article is published in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report part of Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN), and is complimentary through Mar 25, 2025. For information on becoming an AWIN Member to access more content like this, click here.
The Dragon spacecraft with four Crew-9 members departs the ISS after undocking from the Harmony module’s space-facing port.
HOUSTON—NASA's Crew-9 Dragon mission capsule undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) early March 18, setting the stage for an estimated 5:57 p.m. EDT automated splashdown and recovery in the Gulf of Mexico waters off the Florida peninsula to return four crew to Earth, including NASA's extended mission Boeing CST-100 Starliner Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams.
The Crew-9 Dragon, designated Freedom and commanded by NASA astronaut Nick Hague and including Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, departed the ISS U.S. segment's Harmony module with its four crew on March 18 at 1:05 a.m.,EDT, a day earlier than initially envisioned and an advance that was announced by NASA on March 16 in response to a favorable splashdown weather outlook.
"This is our best shot with pristine weather off the coast of Florida to bring Crew-9 home," NASA spokesman Rob Navias noted as preparations to close the hatches between Freedom and the ISS Harmony module's zenith docking port were underway prior to the undocking.
Mission managers and flight control teams, however, will be watching weather conditions and the sea state at several splashdown options on the Gulf side of the Florida peninsula, from Tallahassee, Pensacola, Panama City and Tampa to the recently added Tortuga Island near Key West.
“It was a privilege to call station home,” Hague radioed his ISS colleagues as the Crew-9 Dragon departed.
The Crew-9 Dragon launched and docked to the ISS over Sept. 28-29 with Hague and Gorbunov for their more than 5.5-month ISS tour of duty. Two of the Dragon capsule's seats were vacated prior to the launch to provide return-to-Earth transportation for Wilmore and Williams.
The former U.S. Navy test pilots and veteran astronauts served as the commander and pilot for the Starliner Crew Flight Test, the capsule's first crewed flight and a precursor to its intended certification by NASA to provide the regular schedule transportation of astronauts and cosmonauts to and from the ISS. The Starliner experienced post-launch propulsion system issues that Wilmore, Williams and their flight control teams managed to overcome to enable a docking with the ISS.
However, after on-orbit analysis and ground testing focused on the propulsion concerns, NASA decided to return the Starliner to Earth uncrewed on Sept. 7, 2024, at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.
Throughout what has lined up to be a 286-day mission, Wilmore and Williams joined their ISS crewmates to participate in scientific research and technology development activities and maintenance of the orbital lab, including spacewalks.
The ISS is currently in the midst of a semiannual crew exchange that began with the March 14-15 launch and docking of the Crew-10 Dragon, designated Endurance, with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nicole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. They are the Crew-9 Dragon's ISS replacements.
The exchange will conclude with the launch, currently planned for no earlier than April 8, of Russia's MS-27 Soyuz capsule with cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim.
They are intended to replace NASA astronaut Don Pettit and cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vager, who launched and docked to the ISS onboard the Soyuz MS-26 on Sept. 11, 2024. Their return to Earth onboard the MS-26 is currently planned for April 19.
Related Content
