Two nasa astronauts, Butch Wilmore and sunita williams, ultimately departed the international Space Station (ISS) on tuesday after spending 9 months in orbit.
They, at the side of different team participants, undocked from the ISS aboard SpaceX's 'Dragon' tablet at 1:05 am ET (10:35 am IST), starting their 17-hour adventure again to Earth.
As part of NASA's Crew-9 project, the crew is set to splash down off Florida's coast at five fifty-seven pm ET on tuesday (three twenty-seven am IST on Wednesday). Their tablet will re-input Earth's environment, descend underneath parachutes, and land inside the ocean before they undergo recurring scientific tests and fly to Houston to reunite with their families.
The astronauts' extended lives gained worldwide attention, with media dubbing them "stranded" because of NASA's selection now not to bring them again on their authentic spacecraft. The scenario additionally highlighted Boeing's ongoing struggles in the space area that have led to leadership adjustments.
By the point they land, Wilmore and Williams may have spent 286 days in the area—longer than a trendy six-month ISS challenge, however substantially shorter than the 371-day document set via nasa astronaut Frank Rubio in 2023 after a Russian spacecraft malfunction.
All you need to understand is approximately 'Dragon.'
SpaceX Dragon's ability: The Dragon spacecraft can convey up to seven passengers on missions to Earth orbit and past. In step with SpaceX, it's miles the simplest spacecraft currently able to return significant quantities of shipment to Earth and become the primary non-public spacecraft to transport humans to the distance station.
SpaceX's role in nasa astronaut flights: In 2020, SpaceX restored America's capacity to send nasa astronauts to and from the international Space Station (ISS) aboard American automobiles for the first time since 2011. Beyond nasa, Dragon can also deliver commercial astronauts to Earth orbit, the ISS, or farther.
Dragon's thruster device: The Dragon spacecraft is equipped with 16 Draco thrusters, which help maneuver the spacecraft for the duration of its mission. Those thrusters perform apogee/perigee adjustments, orbit corrections, and mindset manipulation. Each Draco thruster generates ninety pounds of pressure in the area.
Dragon's parachute machine: Dragon features drogue parachutes to stabilize the spacecraft during reentry and four more important parachutes that assist in gradually slowing it down similarly to earlier than touchdown.
Current group arrival on the ISS: nasa astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov arrived on the ISS on sunday aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. It docked with the station at 12:04 a.m. EDT (9:34 a.m. IST on Sunday), while the station turned about 260 miles above the Atlantic Ocean.