Sunita Williams returning sooner than expected? NASA releases schedule; check latest timings of SpaceX Crew-9 return

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has released the schedule for Crew-9's return. According to the US space agency's statement, SpaceX Dragon hatch closure preparations will commence on Tuesday, March 18, at 8:15 AM IST (March 17 at 10:45 PM ET).

This schedule comes after SpaceX's Crew-10 astronaut mission arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday. Crew-10 embarked on a 28-hour orbital chase on March 14 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 spacecraft with four astronauts from three different nations. Americans Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov aboard the spacecraft took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:03 PM ET.

NASA said mission managers are targeting an earlier Crew-9 return, citing favourable conditions. In its press release dated March 16, NASA stated, “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."

The release added, "Mission managers are targeting an earlier Crew-9 return opportunity based on favourable conditions forecasted for the evening of Tuesday, March 18.” After a two-day handover period between Crew-10 and Crew-9, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore and other crew members, including NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will depart for Earth.

Sunita Williams return schedule

Tuesday, March 18

8:15 AM IST – Hatch closing process will be live streamed by NASA

10:15 AM IST – Undocking preparations kick-off

10:30 AM IST – Undocking

Notably, splashdown of the spacecraft is scheduled for approximately 3:37 AM IST, Wednesday, March 19 (5:57 PM EDT, March 18)

2:41 AM – Deorbit burn (time is approximate)

3:37 AM – Splashdown (time is approximate)

NASA will live stream the whole return process from hatch closing to splashdown at its official website https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew.

Notably, the stranded astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who embarked on a 10-day mission to the ISS on June 5 onboard the Boeing Starliner, have been living on the ISS for around nine-months while Hague and Gorbunov arrived at the ISS in September aboard SpaceX Crew Dragon craft.