NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Return to Earth Moved Up to Tomorrow Night (Tues, March 18)

(The International Space Station) After meeting yesterday (Sun, March 16) to assess weather and splashdown conditions off of Florida’s coast for the return of the agency’s Crew-9 mission from the International Space Station (ISS), NASA and SpaceX mission managers are now targeting an earlier Crew-9 return opportunity based on favorable conditions forecasted for the evening of tomorrow, Tuesday, March 18th.

Photo of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 members inside the vestibule between the International Space Station and the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft; clockwise from left are NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague, and Suni Williams, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov courtesy of NASA.

Per yesterday’s press release from NASA, the updated return target continues to allow the space station crew members time to complete handover duties while providing operational flexibility ahead of less favorable weather conditions expected for later in the week.

NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are completing a long-duration science expedition aboard the orbiting laboratory and will return time-sensitive research to Earth.

The news comes after the newly arrived SpaceX Crew-10 that docked with the International Space Station on Sunday (March 16) morning, including astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, was greeted by Crew-9 Commander Hague wearing a grey alien mask and black hoodie.

Photo of NASA SpaceX Crew-9 commander Nick Hague greeting the incoming Crew-10 to the International Space Station (ISS) in an alien mask courtesy of Fox News.

The full video of Crew-9 Commander Nick Hague greeting Crew-10 aboard the ISS in an alien mask can be viewed at foxnews.com

NASA reported that the Crew Dragon Endurance docked with the Harmony module’s forward port about 29 hours after launching from Kennedy Space Center on the Crew-10 mission; Crew-10 will spend the next six months in space.

Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have now been in space since they initially took off for the ISS on June 5th, and have had what was intended to have been an appoximately one week-long stay extended to more than nine months.

NASA and SpaceX will confirm the specific splashdown location closer to the Crew-9 return; Dragon’s undocking depends on numerous factors, including spacecraft readiness, recovery team readiness, weather and sea states.

NASA’s live operations coverage, which can be viewed at https://plus.nasa.gov/, is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):

Monday, March 17
10:45 p.m. – Hatch closing coverage begins on NASA+

Tuesday, March 18
12:45 a.m. – Undocking coverage begins on NASA+
1:05 a.m. – Undocking

Following the conclusion of undocking coverage, NASA will switch to audio only.

Pending weather conditions at the splashdown sites, continuous coverage will resume on March 18 on NASA+ prior to the start of deorbit burn.

4:45 p.m. – Return coverage begins on NASA+
5:11 p.m. – Deorbit burn (time is approximate)
5:57 p.m. – Splashdown (time is approximate)
7:30 p.m. – Return-to-Earth media conference on NASA+, with the following participants:
* Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate
* Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program
* Bill Spetch, operations integration manager, NASA’s International Space Station Program
* Sarah Walker, director, Dragon Mission Management, SpaceX