Residents of Jhulasan, the hometown of NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, joyfully marked her safe return to Earth on Wednesday with aarti and prayers after her nearly nine-month journey in space. The festivities kicked off following the successful splashdown of the Dragon spacecraft, which brought Williams back along with Crew-9 members Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
Prior to this, Williams’ cousin, Dinesh Rawal, held a ‘Yagna’ in Ahmedabad on Tuesday to pray for her safe homecoming. SpaceX confirmed the splashdown, and Nick Hague expressed that the crew was “grinning ear to ear” upon their return. After landing, Hague sent his first message to mission control, where, despite some audio issues, he could be heard sharing the crew’s excitement.
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NASA commentator Sandra Jones painted a vivid picture of the landing, saying, “The views of the serene, glassy ocean are simply breathtaking.” SpaceX’s rescue ships are now set to recover the spacecraft. A rig on one of the vessels will soon hoist the capsule from the water and place it in the “Dragon’s nest.” Just before landing, a series of parachutes deployed to slow the Crew Dragon’s descent, reducing its speed to under 20 miles per hour.
After the splashdown, teams at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston concentrated on helping the astronauts readjust to Earth’s gravity. The crew will receive initial medical assessments on the rescue ship, with ongoing monitoring planned for the following days and weeks. Later today, the Crew-9 team will be taken to NASA’s facilities in Houston for further medical evaluations.
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