Live Stream of the return of Crew-9:
Watch with us as the four members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission—NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov—return to Earth.
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore began their mission at the International Space Station on June 6, 2024, arriving aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov arrived at the station on Sept. 29, 2024. Hague and Gorbunov launched to space aboard SpaceX’s Dragon Freedom spacecraft, which has been docked to the station since September and is now bringing Crew-9 back home. Crew-9 is scheduled to begin their deorbit burn at 5:11 p.m. EDT (2111 UTC) and splash down off the coast of Florida at 5:57 p.m. EDT (2157 UTC). After splashdown, crews will retrieve the Dragon and its crew in a process scheduled to take approximately one hour. See the full schedule for Crew-9’s return to Earth: https://go.nasa.gov/4iWeg8N Learn more about Crew-9’s scientific mission: https://go.nasa.gov/4bWdt5u Follow the latest Crew-9 mission updates: https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/commercial…
Credit: NASA
Live Coverage
NASA will provide live coverage of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 return to Earth from the International Space Station, beginning with Dragon spacecraft hatch closure preparations at 10:45 p.m. EDT Monday, March 17.
NASA and SpaceX met on Sunday to assess weather and splashdown conditions off Florida’s coast for the return of the agency’s Crew-9 mission from the International Space Station. Mission managers are targeting an earlier Crew-9 return opportunity based on favorable conditions forecasted for the evening of Tuesday, March 18. 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, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, are completing a long-duration science expedition aboard the orbiting laboratory and will return time-sensitive research to Earth.
Mission managers will continue monitoring weather conditions in the area, as Dragon’s undocking depends on various factors, including spacecraft readiness, recovery team readiness, weather, sea states, and other factors. NASA and SpaceX will confirm the specific splashdown location closer to the Crew-9 return.
Watch Crew-9 return activities on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of additional platforms, including social media. For schedule information, visit:
For Crew-9 return, NASA’s live operations coverage 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
United States-based media seeking to attend in person must contact the newsroom at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston no later than 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 18, at 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. U.S. and international media interested in participating by phone must contact NASA Johnson by 3 p.m. the day of the event.
