SpaceX is poised to land its Crew Dragon Freedom from the International Space Station with the two crewmates who launched on it and two astronauts who arrived at the space station last June on Boeing’s Starliner, which landed uncrewed without them. If you want to watch it live, we’ve got details on when and how to see it.
SpaceX’s Crew-9 is scheduled to splash down on Tuesday (March 18) at about 5:57 p.m. EDT (2157 GMT) off the coast of Florida after a smooth undocking from the ISS in the wee hours this morning. This landing will mark the ninth operational and 10th overall crew return by the company under a contract with NASA’s commercial crew program.
You’ll be able to watch the Crew-9 landing live on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX and NASA, in a livestream expected to begin about 72 minutes before splashdown at 4:45 p.m. EDT (2045 GMT). Follow our Crew-9 live updates for more on the reentry and read on for exact timing information that we’ve collected.
What time is SpaceX’s Crew-9 landing?
NASA and SpaceX have targeted Crew-9’s splashdown aboard the Crew Dragon Freedom for about 5:57 p.m. EDT (2157 GMT) on Tuesday (March 18) in the Gulf of Mexico. (President Donald Trump has signed an executive order renaming the body of water the Gulf of America, but Space.com follows AP style, which sticks with “Gulf of Mexico” as its internationally recognized name.) The landing had originally been targeted for no earlier than Wednesday (March 18), but the forecast for the remainder of the week called for worsening weather conditions, so the astronauts’ return was moved up a day.
The landing follows Crew-9 departing from the International Space Station (ISS) earlier on Tuesday. Freedom undocked from the space-facing port of the Harmony module at around 1:05 a.m. EDT (0505 GMT). A deorbit burn, which will begin Crew-9’s descent back to Earth, is scheduled for approximately 5:11 p.m. EDT (2111 GMT).
Related: International Space Station: Everything you need to know
Who is returning to Earth on Crew Dragon Freedom?
Three NASA astronauts and a cosmonaut with Russia’s federal space corporation Roscosmos are returning to Earth aboard Crew Dragon Freedom.
Crew-9 commander Nick Hague and mission specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov both launched on Freedom to the space station on Sept. 28, 2024. Normally, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon flights to the orbiting outpost have four people on board, but this time Freedom only flew with two crew members to leave seats open for the other two astronauts landing with Hague and Gorbunov.
Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore arrived at the station on June 5 aboard the Crew Flight Test (CFT) of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft “Calypso.” The new capsule experienced issues with its thrusters on the way to the ISS, which resulted in NASA deciding to return Starliner to the ground without its crew. Calypso successfully landed at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico on Sept. 7, 2024.
Williams and Wilmore became members of the station’s Expedition 72 crew and are mission specialists on Crew-9. They will wear SpaceX spacesuits for the ride home, having fit into a spare on the station and an extra sent up with a cargo delivery.
How long have the Crew-9 astronauts been away from Earth?
Assuming a landing at 5:57 p.m. EDT (2157 GMT) on Tuesday, Crew Dragon Freedom, together with Hague and Gorbunov, will have traveled 72,553,920 statute miles (116,764,215 kilometers), circling Earth 2,736 times over a total of 171 days in space.
This is Hague’s third spaceflight, for a total time off Earth of 374 days. (Gorbunov is completing his first spaceflight.)
Williams and Wilmore will have been in space for 286 days, completing 4,576 trips around Earth while traveling 121,347,491 statute miles (195,289,857 km). This is the third spaceflight for both Williams and Wilmore.
WIlliams will now have a career spaceflight total of 608 days, the second-most of any U.S. astronaut after Peggy Whitson, who has 675 days. Wilmore will have spent 464 days off the planet.
Where is Crew Dragon Freedom landing on Earth?
SpaceX and NASA have targeted a site off the west coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico for the return of Crew-9 aboard Crew Dragon Freedom. The landing site could change, pending weather conditions.
Crew-9 is scheduled to be the last NASA crew to splash down in the Gulf. Future SpaceX flights under the agency’s commercial crew program will land off the coast of California in the Pacific Ocean to avoid debris from Dragon’s expendable trunk from possibly falling over populated areas.
