Sunita Williams tries on SpaceX suits for first time, all set to ride on Crew-9 ‘emergency return’ Dragon spacecraft

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said this week astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore completed the work required to return on the SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft in February 2025. 

The Crew 9 Dragon spacecraft is now the “emergency return spacecraft” for NASA astronauts Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

As part of the readiness, the two Starliner astronauts–Sunita and Butch– tried on their SpaceX Intravehicular Activity spacesuits for the first time on Tuesday, NASA said in its latest update on October 1.

They also tested the suits’ audio configurations and conducted seat-fit checks inside the Dragon spacecraft while wearing the suits. Later, the four astronauts– Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov-practised emergency drills inside the Dragon and docked to the space station's Harmony module’s forward port.

Sunita Williams, the International Space Station commander and flight engineer Butch Wilmore will return to Earth along with SpaceX Crew 9 astronauts Hague and Gorbunov in February 2025.

The SpaceX Crew 9 mission was launched with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the space station on September 29.

Williams and Wilmore will remain on the space station as Expedition 72 crew members, completing a science mission. They had launched aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft in June.

Starliner, with its crew, was supposed to return in mid-June. However, its return was delayed due to technical issues in the spacecraft. Later in August, NASA decided to bring back Starliner without its crew and to return Williams and Wilmore to Earth on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in February.

SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon – the ‘emergency return spacecraft’

“With the checks completed, the Crew-9 Dragon now is the normal and emergency return spacecraft for the four-person crew,” NASA said.

Before this, the Crew-8 Dragon spacecraft was serving as an emergency return spacecraft for Williams and Wilmore.

The US space agency further explained that the crew would dismantle the temporary seats built inside the Crew-8 Dragon spacecraft before its departure from the space station. The Crew 9 will replace Crew-8, and the latter will return to Earth soon.

“The Crew-8 spacecraft and its crew of NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, are scheduled to return to Earth in about a week, depending on weather conditions in the splashdown zones off the coast of Florida,” NASA said in an October 1 update.

The homebound SpaceX Crew-8 quartet has been packing personal items and other station cargo inside Endeavour for the ride home.