Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, along with her colleague Butch Wilmore, safely returned to Earth on Wednesday after an unexpected 286-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Initially planned as a short 8-day flight, their mission was extended to 9 months due to technical issues with their spacecraft. Despite the challenges, Williams and Wilmore demonstrated remarkable resilience and adaptability. The SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying them touched down off the Florida coast at 3.30 am on Wednesday.
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00:00Right there, have our first view of Dragon Freedom coming home to Earth.
00:07And that view is from the WB-57, which is one of NASA's high-altitude planes that is tracking.
00:14Now, because of the way that this camera is configured, it does look like it is dark,
00:19but it is indeed daytime, and you're beginning to see that plasma trail as Dragon reenters the Earth's atmosphere.
00:25All of that is expected. We are anticipating an acquisition of signal around 2.51 p.m. Pacific time,
00:32so just minutes from now, and you may hear the core begin to hail out or call Dragon for communications
00:40and see if we can potentially get communications with them a little bit earlier.
00:44Following this, we'll have two events in rapid succession.
00:47We'll have the drogue parachutes deploy at 2.53 p.m. Pacific,
00:51followed by the mains just one minute later at 2.54 p.m. Pacific time,
00:56ahead of a splashdown at 2.57 p.m. Pacific time off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.
01:13Pretty incredible views of the Dragon spacecraft making its way home back to planet Earth
01:20with the Crew-9 astronauts on board.
01:23Once again, this view is coming from the WB-57 plane.
01:28That heat shield we can see doing magnificent work as it works to…
01:36Freedom, SpaceX, comm check.
01:43All right, we're going to start hearing the SpaceX crew operations resource engineer.
01:50SpaceX, Freedom is with you. 4.16, enjoying the ride.
01:57Copy that, Freedom.
02:02Great news there from Commander Nick Hague reporting back.
02:05We see a healthy flight computer. Expect automated chute deployment.
02:12Freedom copies.
02:17We see the four things moving very quickly as Dragon Freedom makes its way home.
02:25Next event coming up will be deployment of the drogue parachutes.
02:28This occurs around 18,000 feet.
02:31GPS has converged. Expect nominal altitude for drogue chute deployment.
02:45We're about two minutes away from deployment of those drogue parachutes.
02:49Now the heat shield is continuing to work to slow the vehicle down.
02:55That entry period, the Dragon spacecraft went from orbital velocity about 17,500 miles per hour
03:04down to about 350 miles per hour.
03:06So that really gives you a sense of why that plasma builds up on the exterior of the capsule
03:11thanks to the heat shield and the work that it does.
03:14The drogue parachutes will slow it down from 350 to about 119 miles per hour.
03:19We can see seat rotation happening inside the capsule.
03:28Great to get those first views of our crew members.
03:34Once again, the capsules are going about 350 miles per hour when the drogues are deployed.
03:40Those drogue parachutes that we manufacture here in-house are going to slow the spacecraft down to 119 miles per hour.
03:50And that is when we will see the main parachutes deploy.
03:54And that occurs about 6,000 feet above the ocean's surface.
03:59And we are expecting drogue deployment at 2.53 p.m. Pacific.
04:03So we should see it any second now.
04:05And there you are getting a great view of Crew-9 inside Dragon Freedom.
04:09As it returns back to Earth, we are awaiting the drogue deploys.
04:13This view coming from the WB-57 high-altitude plane.
04:17And there you see it on your screen, drogue deployment.
04:24You can hear the crowd here.
04:31The crowd here very excited as Dragon Freedom continues to make its way back to planet Earth.
04:46Next up, we'll stand by for the main deployment of the parachutes.
04:51The mains are quite a bit larger.
04:52You'll be able to notice the difference on your screen once they deploy.
04:55And they continue to ensure that the Dragon spacecraft slows down even further.
05:00As we mentioned, Freedom will be traveling 16 miles per hour
05:04when it splashes down off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida,
05:08here at 2.57 p.m. Pacific time this afternoon.
05:11And there we go.
05:13We have visual on four healthy mains.
05:18That view was from inside.
05:23That view was from inside one of the buckets where the parachutes are located.
05:27So we see a great view there of the reefing on those parachutes.
05:31And as those parachutes, those main parachutes begin to inflate fully, four beautiful, healthy mains.
05:42Now awaiting visuals of splashdown.
05:47We'll start to hear Commander Nick Hague.
05:49Copy 1,000.
05:51As we heard right there, Commander Nick Hague will be calling out the altitude
05:55of the Dragon capsule from here on out.
05:58Landing in water is simpler and provides more margin against unlikely parachute issues.
06:04You can see those parachutes continuing to slow the Dragon capsule down.
06:12And if you're just joining us, you're looking at 800 meters, a live view of Crew 9,
06:20just minutes away from splashing down off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.
06:25Splashdown two minutes from now at 2.57 p.m. Pacific.
06:28We do have four healthy mains really doing the job there.
06:32Just breathtaking views of a calm, glass-like ocean off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.
06:38Crew 9 just minutes away from splashing down.
06:41This is really such an incredible shot.
06:45Copy, 600.
06:48That was a live view from our recovery vessel.
06:52Megan, which is stationed a couple miles away from the splashdown site,
06:58we can see the crew there using their restraints as resting places for their arms.
07:05They were just in space moments ago, so their arms were able to float freely.
07:13400 meters.
07:17This is a gorgeous bluebird day here that we have for the splashdown of Crew 9.
07:24It's incredible to think that the Dragon capsule just minutes ago was going over 17,000 miles per hour
07:34and now gently coasting to a soft splashdown.
07:39200.
07:42Copy, 200 meters. Brace for splashdown.
07:52As you can see there on your screen, continuing to monitor progress of the Dragon spacecraft.
08:00And we're going to stand by for splashdown located in the Gulf of America off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.
08:15And splashdown, Crew 9 back on Earth.
08:30SpaceX Freedom, splashdown. Good main release.
08:35Copy, splashdown. We see main chutes cut.
08:38Nick, Alex, Butch, Sunny, on behalf of SpaceX, welcome home.
08:45So at 3.28 a.m. on the 19th of March, 286 days after Sunita Williams and Butch Willmore had left from the Earth,
08:58they've successfully come back.
09:01A technical snag had them up in the space for nearly nine months, but all of that has come to an end.
09:083.28 a.m., that's when the landing took place.
09:12The soft splash happened, the splashdown happened exactly how the NASA team in partnership with SpaceX
09:20would have wanted things to happen and everything happening to a tee.
09:25Exactly how the engineers, the scientists, the astronauts would have wanted things to play out.
09:31There were plenty of complexities, be it the deorbiting, be it the seven crucial phases that had to all happen in a proper manner
09:41for the landing to take place perfectly.
09:44And everything just played out the way that the concerned stakeholders would have wanted.
09:52286 days and nearly nine months is what two astronauts had to spend up in the space and now they're finally back home.