Originally launched on Boeing’s Starliner for an eight-day test flight on June 5, 2024, the pair’s mission ballooned to 286 days due to thruster failures that grounded their ride home. For space fans and industry watchers, it’s a tale of resilience—and a testament to SpaceX’s knack for stepping up when plans go awry.
Freedom, undocking from the ISS’s Harmony module at 1:05 a.m. EDT, carried Wilmore and Williams alongside NASA’s Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, wrapping a 17-hour journey with a 5:57 p.m. EDT splashdown. Recovery crews on SpaceX’s ship MEGAN hoisted the capsule aboard, greeted by a pod of dolphins—a poetic touch to a mission that defied the odds. Here’s how it went down, what stretched the stay, and where it leaves human spaceflight.
THE RETURN: DRAGON DELIVERS
Freedom’s descent was a masterclass in precision—four main parachutes bloomed post-reentry, easing it into the Gulf after a fiery plunge from 250 miles up. Recovery teams extracted the crew within an hour, whisking them via helicopter to Houston for medical checks. NASA’s live feed caught Wilmore’s quip—“What a ride”—and Williams’ wave, her third spaceflight now totaling 608 days aloft.
The mission piggybacked on Crew-9, launched September 28, 2024, with Hague and Gorbunov aboard—two seats left open for Wilmore and Williams after NASA ditched Starliner’s return. Crew-10’s arrival on March 15, 2025, after launching March 14, freed up Freedom for this 17-hour hop—a deorbit burn at 5:11 p.m. EDT sealed its path to a pinpoint landing.
THE EXTENDED STAY: A STARLINER SNAFU
Wilmore and Williams blasted off on Starliner’s maiden crewed test, aiming to certify Boeing’s craft as NASA’s second ISS taxi alongside Dragon. Eight days was the plan—dock, test, return. But thruster glitches and helium leaks crippled Starliner, stranding them as NASA and Boeing debated fixes. By August 2024, NASA sent it back empty, folding the duo into Expedition 72—Williams even took command, logging a record 62 hours across nine spacewalks, while Wilmore tackled maintenance.
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1400077361/1742426961/articles/09YuLGiGz1742539290936/vIqY3VOpS1742554443011.jpg]
Political noise flared—Trump and SpaceX’s Elon Musk pushed for a quicker rescue, though NASA cited crew scheduling and budget constraints, opting for Crew-10’s March 14 launch to enable the handover. The astronauts thrived—286 days of science and grit, turning a glitch into a marathon.
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1400077361/1742426961/articles/09YuLGiGz1742539290936/wiZ4gh5fK1742554415131.jpg]
NASA’s bet on two providers—SpaceX and Boeing—aims for redundancy post-Shuttle, with 5.8 million pounds of cargo hauled to the ISS by 2024. SpaceX’s Dragon, flying since 2020, has nailed 14 crewed missions; Boeing’s $4.2 ...
Freedom, undocking from the ISS’s Harmony module at 1:05 a.m. EDT, carried Wilmore and Williams alongside NASA’s Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, wrapping a 17-hour journey with a 5:57 p.m. EDT splashdown. Recovery crews on SpaceX’s ship MEGAN hoisted the capsule aboard, greeted by a pod of dolphins—a poetic touch to a mission that defied the odds. Here’s how it went down, what stretched the stay, and where it leaves human spaceflight.
THE RETURN: DRAGON DELIVERS
Freedom’s descent was a masterclass in precision—four main parachutes bloomed post-reentry, easing it into the Gulf after a fiery plunge from 250 miles up. Recovery teams extracted the crew within an hour, whisking them via helicopter to Houston for medical checks. NASA’s live feed caught Wilmore’s quip—“What a ride”—and Williams’ wave, her third spaceflight now totaling 608 days aloft.
The mission piggybacked on Crew-9, launched September 28, 2024, with Hague and Gorbunov aboard—two seats left open for Wilmore and Williams after NASA ditched Starliner’s return. Crew-10’s arrival on March 15, 2025, after launching March 14, freed up Freedom for this 17-hour hop—a deorbit burn at 5:11 p.m. EDT sealed its path to a pinpoint landing.
THE EXTENDED STAY: A STARLINER SNAFU
Wilmore and Williams blasted off on Starliner’s maiden crewed test, aiming to certify Boeing’s craft as NASA’s second ISS taxi alongside Dragon. Eight days was the plan—dock, test, return. But thruster glitches and helium leaks crippled Starliner, stranding them as NASA and Boeing debated fixes. By August 2024, NASA sent it back empty, folding the duo into Expedition 72—Williams even took command, logging a record 62 hours across nine spacewalks, while Wilmore tackled maintenance.
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1400077361/1742426961/articles/09YuLGiGz1742539290936/vIqY3VOpS1742554443011.jpg]
Political noise flared—Trump and SpaceX’s Elon Musk pushed for a quicker rescue, though NASA cited crew scheduling and budget constraints, opting for Crew-10’s March 14 launch to enable the handover. The astronauts thrived—286 days of science and grit, turning a glitch into a marathon.
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1400077361/1742426961/articles/09YuLGiGz1742539290936/wiZ4gh5fK1742554415131.jpg]
NASA’s bet on two providers—SpaceX and Boeing—aims for redundancy post-Shuttle, with 5.8 million pounds of cargo hauled to the ISS by 2024. SpaceX’s Dragon, flying since 2020, has nailed 14 crewed missions; Boeing’s $4.2 ...
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Apple(Digital) - 1 Issue, March 21, 2025