SpaceX mission breaks new record and prepares to return home

On Friday (25), NASA (the American space agency) will broadcast live the return to Earth and landing of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour. You can watch it on the channel NASA+on the Internet.

The spacecraft returns home with astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Janet Epps on board, as well as astronaut Alexander Grebenkin. It also brings with it a new record for Elon Musk: the Crew-8 mission spent nearly 8 months in orbit!

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Crew-8 receives this specifically because it was the eighth commercial mission between NASA and SpaceX to the International Space Station (ISS).

Its goal was to continue scientific research in microgravity conditions, especially in the fields of health and biology. This, in fact, is one of the agency’s current purposes: to understand how things work beyond low Earth orbit.

New record and opportunity

• The mission was originally supposed to last about six months.
• Crew-8 launched on March 4, 2024 and was expected to return in September.
• But NASA and SpaceX ran into two problems in the meantime.
• The first concerns the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which ran into difficulties and remained docked at the station longer than expected.
• The second concerns hurricanes and storms in the United States: bad weather at a dive site off the coast of Florida prompted mission planners to postpone the return home.
• The silver lining, so to speak, is that this extra time in space allowed Crew Dragon Endeavor to set a new record for time spent in orbit: 232 days.
• Before that, the record belonged to the 2021 Crew-2 mission, which stayed on the station for 197 days.
• Another positive point of this long stay is the photos taken by the astronauts.
• Matthew Dominic’s X account has become a must-have for space enthusiasts!

Another (rescue) mission

NASA and SpaceX already have another mission underway: Crew-9 lifted off in September toward the International Space Station. But it has a slightly different purpose than the others: it will be a rescue mission.

As we said a while ago, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft recently ran into problems and was unable to return its two astronauts to Earth: NASA’s Sonny Williams and Butch Wilmore.

The two traveled to the space station in early June for a one-week test flight. However, the spacecraft’s journey to the International Space Station encountered some difficulties.

Engineers worked for months to understand the problems with helium leaks and propellant failures, but were unable to come to a conclusion. NASA then decided not to use the Starliner capsule to return the duo. He considered it too risky.

Sonny Williams and Butch Wilmore, who would initially spend just one week in orbit, have already spent more than 100 days in space. The agency’s solution was to send a rescue mission: Crew-9, from SpaceX.

Instead of the usual four astronauts in the crew, only two boarded the plane, leaving the other two vacant positions for Starliner members.

It is not yet clear when the Boeing capsule will be able to fly again. However, Sonny Williams and Butch Wilmore have a date to return home: Crew-9 returns to Earth in early 2025.

The information is from Space.com website.