{"id":171198,"date":"2025-03-19T13:54:46","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T08:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/?p=171198"},"modified":"2025-03-19T13:54:47","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T08:24:47","slug":"sunita-williams-return-from-starliner-snag-to-spacex-splashdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/sunita-williams-return-from-starliner-snag-to-spacex-splashdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunita Williams\u2019 Return: From Starliner snag to SpaceX splashdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams returned safely to Earth on March 18, 2025 (March 19 in India) after an incredible nine-month journey in space, which was prolonged due to delays in the Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission. Their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, known as Freedom, splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Tallahassee, Florida, concluding a mission that attracted worldwide attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NASA Astronauts\u2019 Return: A Detailed Overview<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. Background of the Mission<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NASA&#8217;s Crew Flight Test (CFT) was all about putting Boeing&#8217;s Starliner spacecraft through its paces for future astronaut missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 The Starliner took off on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 Initially, the plan was for a 10-day visit to the International Space Station (ISS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 But due to some technical hiccups, the mission ended up lasting over nine months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. Starliner\u2019s Malfunctions and Delays<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The mission was plagued by&nbsp;<strong>technical issues<\/strong>, leading to multiple delays:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 On June 6, 2024, Starliner encountered some thruster issues that pushed back its docking with the ISS. Thankfully, four out of the five malfunctioning thrusters were fixed, paving the way for a successful second docking attempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 By June 18, 2024, NASA decided to delay Starliner\u2019s return to look into helium leaks and other technical problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 On July 2, 2024, NASA chose to extend the mission past the initial 45-day mark to take a closer look at how Starliner was performing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 Finally, on August 24, 2024, NASA revealed that Starliner would be returning to Earth without any astronauts on board due to safety worries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. Decision to Return via SpaceX Crew Dragon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since Starliner was deemed unsafe for astronaut transport, NASA decided to bring Wilmore and Williams back using&nbsp;<strong>Crew-9\u2019s SpaceX Dragon capsule<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>August 30, 2024:<\/strong>\u00a0NASA adjusted\u00a0<strong>Crew-9\u2019s manifest<\/strong>\u00a0to reserve two seats for Wilmore and Williams.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>September 22, 2024:<\/strong>\u00a0Sunita Williams took over as\u00a0<strong>Commander of the ISS<\/strong>, following the departure of Russian cosmonaut\u00a0<strong>Oleg Kononenko<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>September 28, 2024:<\/strong>\u00a0Crew-9 launched aboard\u00a0<strong>SpaceX Falcon 9<\/strong>, with\u00a0<strong>Nick Hague (NASA) and Aleksandr Gorbunov (Roscosmos)<\/strong>, ensuring return seats for Wilmore and Williams.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4. Extended Stay and Activities in Space<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During their extended stay, Williams and Wilmore continued&nbsp;<strong>science experiments and spacewalks<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>November 12, 2024:<\/strong>\u00a0Williams confirmed she was\u00a0<strong>physically fit<\/strong>\u00a0despite her extended stay in microgravity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>January 30, 2025:<\/strong>\u00a0Williams conducted a\u00a0<strong>5.5-hour spacewalk<\/strong>\u00a0with Wilmore, setting a\u00a0<strong>record for the most cumulative EVA time by a female astronaut<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>February 11, 2025:<\/strong>\u00a0NASA accelerated\u00a0<strong>Crew-10\u2019s launch<\/strong>\u00a0using a\u00a0<strong>flight-proven SpaceX Dragon capsule, Endurance<\/strong>, to facilitate Crew-9\u2019s return.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5. The Final Return Journey<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>March 14, 2025:<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>Crew-10 launched from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center<\/strong>, allowing Crew-9\u2019s departure.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>March 18, 2025 (March 19 in India):<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Crew-9\u2019s\u00a0<strong>Dragon capsule, Freedom<\/strong>, undocked from the ISS at\u00a0<strong>1:05 a.m. EDT<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>5:57 p.m. (2157 GMT):<\/strong>\u00a0The capsule\u00a0<strong>safely splashed down<\/strong>\u00a0in the\u00a0<strong>Gulf of Mexico<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Astronauts emerged\u00a0<strong>smiling and waving<\/strong>\u00a0before heading for\u00a0<strong>routine medical checks<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams returned safely to Earth on March 18, 2025 (March 19 in India) after an incredible nine-month journey in space, which was prolonged due to delays in the Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission. Their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, known as Freedom, splashed down in the Gulf of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":171199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5364],"tags":[868],"class_list":["post-171198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs-march-2025","tag-space-current-affairs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171200,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171198\/revisions\/171200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}