NASA will present dwell protection of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission’s return to Earth from the Worldwide Area Station (ISS), starting with hatch closure preparations at 10:45 p.m. ET (7:45 a.m. PST) on Monday, March 17.
Crew-9 return timeline and climate assessments
NASA and SpaceX mission managers met on Sunday to evaluate climate and splashdown circumstances off the Florida coast. Following favorable forecasts, they’ve moved up the Crew-9 return to Tuesday night, March 18. This choice permits ISS crew members to finish their handover duties whereas avoiding much less favorable climate later within the week.
Aboard the Dragon capsule are NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Sunita Williams, and Barry “Butch” Wilmore, together with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. They’re finishing a long-duration science expedition and can carry again time-sensitive analysis to Earth.
Mission managers will proceed monitoring circumstances, because the capsule’s undocking and splashdown depend upon varied components, together with spacecraft readiness, restoration crew preparations, and climate circumstances on the designated touchdown websites. The precise splashdown location might be confirmed nearer to re-entry.
Tips on how to watch the Crew-9 return dwell
NASA will present dwell protection of the return occasions on NASA+ and different platforms. The schedule is as follows (all instances Jap, with Pakistan Normal Time (PST) in parentheses, topic to vary based mostly on real-time operations):
Tuesday, March 18
- 12:45 a.m. ET (9:45 a.m. PST) – Undocking protection begins on NASA+
- 1:05 a.m. ET (10:05 a.m. PST) – Undocking from ISS
Following undocking, NASA will change to audio-only updates till steady protection resumes previous to the deorbit burn.
- 4:45 p.m. ET (1:45 a.m. PST, March 19) – Return protection begins on NASA+
- 5:11 p.m. ET (2:11 a.m. PST) – Deorbit burn (time approximate)
- 5:57 p.m. ET (2:57 a.m. PST) – Splashdown (time approximate)
After the splashdown, NASA will maintain a Return-to-Earth media convention at 7:30 p.m. ET (4:30 a.m. PST, March 19) on NASA+, that includes:
- Joel Montalbano, Deputy Affiliate Administrator, NASA Area Operations Mission Directorate
- Steve Stich, Supervisor, NASA Industrial Crew Program
- Invoice Spetch, Operations Integration Supervisor, NASA Worldwide Area Station Program
- Sarah Walker, Director, Dragon Mission Administration, SpaceX
Media entry and extra info
Media entry and extra info
US-based media searching for in-person entry should contact NASA’s Johnson Area Middle newsroom in Houston no later than 1 p.m. ET (10 p.m. PST) on Tuesday, March 18 at 281-483-5111 or by way of e-mail at jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov.
US and worldwide media occupied with becoming a member of by way of telephone should register by 3 p.m. ET (12 a.m. PST, March 19). NASA’s media credentialing coverage is obtainable on-line.