Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore return after a failed Boeing capsule left them stranded on the International Space Station. See all the stages of their return, with a pod of dolphins welcoming them after splashdown.
Read more on CNET.com
Finally! 'Stranded' NASA Astronauts Return to Earth on SpaceX Dragon https://cnet.us/nl5
0:00 Intro
0:58 Astronauts Begin Boarding
1:42 Astronauts Take Photos and Say Goodbye
2:12 Astronuats Prepare to Undock
2:57 The Hatch is Closed and Sealed
3:27 Dragon Capsule Undocks
5:08 Astronauts Thank the Control Teams
5:49 Dragon Capsule Enters Earth's Atmosphere
7:24 Dragon Capsule Parachutes Deploy
10:54 Splashdown
11:33 Dolphin Pod Welcome Astronauts Home
12:36 Astronauts Exit the Dragon Capsule
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#nasa #spacex #space #spacenews #astronauts
Read more on CNET.com
Finally! 'Stranded' NASA Astronauts Return to Earth on SpaceX Dragon https://cnet.us/nl5
0:00 Intro
0:58 Astronauts Begin Boarding
1:42 Astronauts Take Photos and Say Goodbye
2:12 Astronuats Prepare to Undock
2:57 The Hatch is Closed and Sealed
3:27 Dragon Capsule Undocks
5:08 Astronauts Thank the Control Teams
5:49 Dragon Capsule Enters Earth's Atmosphere
7:24 Dragon Capsule Parachutes Deploy
10:54 Splashdown
11:33 Dolphin Pod Welcome Astronauts Home
12:36 Astronauts Exit the Dragon Capsule
Subscribe to CNET on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/cnet
Never miss a deal again! See CNET’s browser extension 👉 https://bit.ly/3lO7sOU
Check out CNET’s Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/cnet
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#nasa #spacex #space #spacenews #astronauts
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Good evening from Mission Control in Houston
00:02and the International Space Station Flight Control Room
00:04at the Johnson Space Center.
00:06As we go on the air, you are looking live at the passageway
00:09between the Harmony module of the International Space Station
00:13and the connecting tunnel leading
00:14to the SpaceX Dragon Freedom that is housed at the moment
00:19on the zenith or space-facing side of the Harmony module.
00:23It is through that passageway that NASA astronauts Sonny
00:26Williams and Butch Wilmore,
00:28along with NASA astronaut Nick Hague, the Dragon Commander,
00:32and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov,
00:35will be floating through a short time from now,
00:38closing the hatch behind them and making final preparations
00:41for their undocking from the International Space Station
00:45that is scheduled at 12.05 a.m. Central Time,
00:481.05 a.m. Eastern Time, the home stretch for Williams
00:52and Wilmore to complete an extended nine
00:55and a half month mission in space.
01:01Nick Hague, the commander of the Dragon Freedom,
01:05floating through the hatchway.
01:08We will see Williams and Wilmore shortly
01:12as they are completing their suit-up activities.
01:15The final suit-up will take place once the four crew
01:18members are inside Dragon and the hatch is closed
01:21between Dragon and the International Space Station.
01:24The station hatch on that side
01:26of the docking interface will be closed
01:28after the Dragon hatch is closed.
01:31On your screen, stowing some last-minute items aboard the
01:35Dragon spacecraft that he is commanding
01:38from undocking through splashdown.
01:42And you see at the hatchway the four departing Crew-9 crew
01:45members posing for some final photos.
01:54Final handshakes and hugs
02:08between the departing Crew-9 crew members.
02:12And now inside Dragon, you see Butch Wilmore on the far left
02:16in the center of your screen, Alexander Gorbunov,
02:19Nick Hague on the far right.
02:24They will settle into their respective seats aboard Freedom
02:30as countdown clocks here
02:31in mission control are ticking backward toward the time
02:33of the command to initiate the opening of hooks holding Freedom
02:38to its docking port on the space-facing side
02:40of the Harmony module, that command to be issued
02:43about an hour and 55 minutes from now.
02:47The actual physical separation, what we peg as undocking
02:51for the history books, is scheduled
02:53at 12.05 a.m. Central, 1.05 a.m. Eastern.
02:58The hatch between the International Space Station
03:00and pressurized mating adapter number two is now closed.
03:04The Dragon hatch was closed at 10.05 p.m. Central time,
03:0711.05 p.m. Eastern time.
03:11Just about two minutes ago at 10.26 Central,
03:1411.26 p.m. Eastern, the station hatch also closed.
03:20And that sets the stage for the vestibule depressurization
03:24and final leak checks at the docking interface.
03:27Visors are down and we are go for undock at the planned time.
03:36SpaceX copies, crew are configured for undock.
03:41And so that was the voice of NASA astronaut Nick Hague,
03:44who is the commander of Dragon, giving the confirmation
03:47that they heard the go.
03:48So good news, we are continuing to progress
03:51down the timeline today for an undocking
03:53at 10.05 p.m. Pacific time here in Hawthorne.
03:59Freedom, SpaceX on the big loop, undock sequence commanded.
04:03And right on schedule, we've got confirmation
04:06of that undocking sequence command.
04:08Freedom copies.
04:15All hooks open.
04:17All hooks are open.
04:21And undocking confirmed.
04:25Freedom is free of its moorings.
04:29Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore begin their belated trip home.
04:32Operation confirmed.
04:41Undocking occurring right on time at 12.05 a.m. Central time,
04:461.05 a.m. Eastern time.
04:52Good opening rate reported by the visiting vehicle officer.
05:02Dragon's attitude control system functioning as advertised.
05:09Freedom on the big loop.
05:11On behalf of Crew 9, I'd like to say it was a privilege
05:16to call Station home, to live and work and be a part of a mission
05:22and a team that spans the globe, working together
05:25in cooperation for the benefit of humanity.
05:28To our colleagues and dear friends who remain on the Station,
05:32Alex, Dan, Dave, Rick, Todd, Kirill,
05:38we know the Station's in great hands.
05:40We're excited to see what you guys are going to accomplish
05:44and we'll be waiting for you.
05:46Crew 9's going home.
05:49Right there, have our first view of Dragon Freedom
05:52coming home to Earth.
05:56And that view is from the WB-57,
05:58which is one of NASA's high altitude planes that is tracking.
06:03Now, because of the way that this camera is configured,
06:06it does look like it is dark, but it is indeed daytime
06:09and you're beginning to see that plasma trail
06:11as Dragon re-enters the Earth's atmosphere.
06:14All of that is expected.
06:15We are anticipating an acquisition of signal
06:18around 2.51pm Pacific time, so just minutes from now.
06:23And you may hear the core begin to hail out
06:26or call Dragon for communications
06:29and see if we can potentially get communications
06:31with them a little bit earlier.
06:33Following this, we'll have two events in rapid succession.
06:36We'll have the drogue parachutes deploy at 2.53pm Pacific,
06:40followed by the mains just one minute later
06:42at 2.54pm Pacific time,
06:45ahead of a splashdown at 2.57pm Pacific time
06:49off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.
06:51Freedom, SpaceX, comm check.
06:58All right, we're going to start hearing
07:00the SpaceX crew operations resource engineer.
07:05SpaceX, Freedom is with you.
07:074.16, enjoying the ride.
07:12Copy that, Freedom.
07:17Great news there from Commander Nick Hague reporting back.
07:20We see a healthy flight computer,
07:21expect automated chute deployment.
07:2415 kilometres, brace for drogue window.
07:29We can see seat rotation happening inside the capsule.
07:33Great to get those first views of our crew members.
07:39Once again, the capsules are going about 350 miles per hour
07:42when the drogues are deployed.
07:45Those drogue parachutes that we manufacture here in house
07:49are going to slow the spacecraft down to 119 miles per hour.
07:55And that is when we will see the main parachutes deploy
07:59and that occurs about 6,000 feet above the ocean's surface.
08:04And we are expecting drogue deployment at 2.53pm Pacific.
08:08So we should see it any second now.
08:10And there you are getting a great view
08:11of Crew-9 inside Dragon Freedom.
08:14As it returns back to Earth,
08:16we are awaiting the drogue deploys.
08:17This view coming from the WB-57 high altitude plane.
08:21And there you see it on your screen, drogue deployment.
08:24Drogue deployment right now.
08:26You can hear the crowd here.
08:28Two healthy drogues.
08:33The crowd here, very excited as Dragon Freedom
08:36continues to make its way back to planet Earth.
08:48Next up, we'll stand by for the main deployment of the parachutes.
08:53The mains are quite a bit larger.
08:54You'll be able to notice the difference on your screen
08:56once they deploy and they continue to ensure
08:59that the Dragon spacecraft slows down even further.
09:03As we mentioned, Freedom will be traveling 16 miles per hour
09:06when it splashes down off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida
09:10here at 2.57pm Pacific time this afternoon.
09:14And there we go.
09:15We have visual on four healthy mains.
09:20That view was from the WB-57.
09:23That view was from inside...
09:28That view was from inside one of the buckets
09:30where the parachutes are located.
09:32So we see a great view there of the reefing on those parachutes.
09:36And as those parachutes, those main parachutes
09:39begin to inflate fully, four beautiful, healthy mains.
09:46Now awaiting visuals of splashdown.
09:49That's Freedom.
09:51We'll start to hear Commander Nick Hague.
09:54Copy, 1,000.
09:56As we heard right there, Commander Nick Hague
09:58will be calling out the altitude of the Dragon capsule
10:01from here on out.
10:03Landing in water is simpler and provides more margin
10:05against unlikely parachute issues.
10:09You can see those parachutes continuing
10:13to slow the Dragon capsule down.
10:16And if you're just joining us,
10:19you're looking at 800 metres.
10:21A live view of Crew 9,
10:23just minutes away from splashing down
10:26off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.
10:29Splashdown two minutes from now at 2.57pm Pacific.
10:32We do have four healthy mains really doing the job there.
10:36Just breathtaking views of a calm, glass-like ocean
10:40off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.
10:42Crew 9, just minutes away from splashing down.
10:48And splashdown. Crew 9, back on Earth.
11:03And SpaceX Freedom, splashdown.
11:06Good main release.
11:08Copy, splashdown. We see main chutes cut.
11:11Nick, Alex, Butch, Sunny,
11:14on behalf of SpaceX, welcome home.
11:23It is just an amazing view.
11:26What a ride.
11:28I see a capsule full of grins ear to ear.
11:33Obviously, they're getting quick assists
11:36from the honorary part of the recovery team,
11:38those dolphins in the water there.
11:40Now, the recovery crew team member
11:43that is crawling around the Dragon spacecraft,
11:47earlier we saw a view where it was like a spider monkey pose.
11:51We can see that individual now standing in the bucket
11:55where the main parachutes were stored
11:58while Dragon was on orbit.
12:01Obviously, those main parachutes were utilized
12:03for splashdown today.
12:05They were deployed and cut from the Dragon capsule.
12:09And one of the other fast boats of the recovery team
12:13working to pull those out of the water.
12:16And there we do see Crew 9, some happy waves,
12:19smiles all around, back on Earth.
12:23We can see folks on board clapping
12:26as our first crew member.
12:29And that is NASA astronaut Nick Haig,
12:32commander of Crew 9,
12:35now out of Crew Dragon Freedom.
12:38It's like we're getting some cheers and applause.
12:41And we can see Crew 9,
12:44we can see Crew 9,
12:47we can see Crew 9,
12:50it's like we're getting some cheers and clapping on board
12:54as Alexander is
12:57slid down the little ramp
13:00and placed into the mobility aid.
13:06Again, big smile.
13:10It looks like we're getting our next crew member here
13:13that is none other than Sonny Williams.
13:16Big smile, big waves.
13:20She, like her other crew members,
13:23now will be assisted onto the mobility aid.
13:38There we have it, some waves, some thumbs up and some smiles.
13:41And of course,
13:44that leaves NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore
13:47inside Dragon in seat 4.
13:59We're getting some views of him now
14:02as he egresses or exits the spacecraft.
14:18Once again, some
14:21elation and cheers there
14:24from Butch Wilmore.