After being caught in house for over 9 months, NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have lastly undocked the Worldwide House Station (ISS) and they’re now headed again to Earth. For the unversed, Williams and Wilmore had been despatched to house in June 2024 however with sudden propulsion issues of their Boeing Starliner, they had been stranded on the ISS. Lastly, in September 2024 a Dragon spacecraft with two astronauts– Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov– was despatched to the ISS, as an alternative of the standard 4, with the mission to convey again Williams and Wilmore (a part of Crew 9). On March 14, after a lot delay, 4 crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission had been despatched aboard a Dragon spacecraft and it docked the ISS the following day. After a brief handover interval between Crew 9 and Crew 10, Hague, Williams, Wilmore, and Gorbunov at the moment are scheduled to return to Earth on Wednesday, March 19.
It’s fascinating to notice that at a time when the USA and Russia have strained political equations, it appears that evidently Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams helped in uniting the 2 nations. How? Nicely, the two-member crew which was despatched to convey again Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore consists of NASA’s Nick Hague, who’s an American astronaut, and Russian Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Whereas this was Nick Hague’s second keep on the ISS, it was Aleksandr Gorbunov’s first.
Not simply this, the 4 crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission, who’ve now changed Crew 9 members on the ISS, has astronauts from diffferent nationalities, together with American and Russian. They’re specifically: NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Company) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
As per NASA, Anne McClain is the Commander of Crew-10 and she’s going to function a flight engineer throughout Expeditions 72/73 aboard the ISS. NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers is the pilot of Crew-10 and that is her first house mission. In the meantime, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi is a mission specialist for Crew-10 and is making his second flight to the house station. He’ll function a flight engineer throughout Expeditions 72/73. And, Russian Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov can also be a mission specialist for Crew-10 and is making his first flight to the house station. Peskov will function a flight engineer throughout Expeditions 72/73.
In the meantime, Nick Hague, Aleksandr Gorbunov, Sunita Williams, and Butch Wilmore are presently en path to Earth and they’re anticipated to land at 03:27 AM IST on March 19. The precise splashdown location within the Gulf of Mexico will rely on the climate situations, as per experiences. They’re going to then be transported to NASA’s Johnson House Middle in Houston, Texas, by the restoration staff the place the astronauts will bear routine medical assessments.
