Sunita Williams tests Dragon pressure suits for homecoming journey, Hurricane Helene delays SpaceX’s rescue mission

NASA Commander Sunita Williams and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore, who are scheduled to return home with SpaceX’s Crew-9 reviewed the Dragon pressure suits they will wear during their journey back to Earth. 

The astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are preparing for their upcoming return to Earth while continuing their scientific and maintenance duties in orbit. 

Williams focused on cargo transfer operations, moving supplies in and out of the Cygnus cargo craft. This essential work ensures that the station remains well-stocked and that experiments and samples can be returned to Earth for analysis. 

The duo flew for Boeing’s Crew Flight Test (CFT) for an 8-day mission could not return in time owing to the faulty Starliner spacecraft.  

They will return in February 2025 when Nick Hague from NASA and Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russian space agency Roscosmos complete their six-month stay. 

Hague and Gorbunov will fly to the ISS on NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 mission to rescue astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore who are in space since early June.  

Meanwhile, NASA has delayed its Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) due to Hurricane Helene which made landfall in Florida on September 27. The decision was made based on predictions of harsh weather around the launch site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission is now scheduled to lift off at 10:47 pm IST on September 28. 

“NASA and SpaceX continue to target 1:17pm ET September 28 for the launch of the agency's SpaceX #Crew9 mission. Weather officials with @SLDelta45 predict a 55% chance of favorable weather conditions for launch, primary concerns being in the ascent corridor,” NASA Commercial Crew said in a post on X (formally Twitter). 

The NASA-SpaceX Crew-9 mission was initially scheduled for take-off on August 18 with four crew members. It was later postponed in the wake of technical issues detected with Boeing’s Starliner that carried Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore to space on June 5. 

Hague will be serving as the commander of the NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission. Before NASA’s decision to downsize the SpaceX crew, Hague was the pilot assigned for this mission. Now, he will take on the role of commander. 

Gorbunov is the mission specialist of the upcoming mission and has signed up for a lot of various scientific experiments. “I will work on ISS maintenance as well. And I think six months are going to be pretty busy,” he said ahead of the Crew-9 launch.