NASA astronaut Sunita Williams formally transferred the command of the International Space Station (ISS) to the Russian cosmonott Alexi Ovachinin, which was explained by USA Tude to board the SpaceX crew dragon spacecraft to return to Earth. Roskosmos and National Aeronautics and Space Administration collaborated to make it possible for two astronauts, Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, who were stuck in space for months, to depart for Earth.
Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore initially started the 10-day mission on the Boeing Starlineer on 5 June, but have been living on ISS for the last nine months, when their capsules faced gradual failures. The spacecraft returned without a crew in September last year.
Later, the SpaceX Crew -9 mission was launched by NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos Cosmonot Alexandra Gorbunov to bring back the trapped astronauts in February at the Dragon spacecraft. After the gradual delay, all will return together on March 19.
Addressing the Command Handover ceremony, Sunita Williams thanked all those who assisted him with missions including instructors, friends, family and control centers. USA Today said that the Indian-American astronaut handed over the command to Ovachinin, saying, “We will miss you”.
Astronauts on SpaceX Crew -10 Mission
The SpaceX Crew -10 mission is launched with NASA astronaut Anne McClane and Nicole Aires, Jacksa’s Takua Onishi, and Kiril Peskov onboard of Rososomos on 12 March or 13 from Kennedy Space Center (KSC). These astronauts will officially become members of the campaign 72 after handling duties and responsibilities from the departure crew. Sunita Williams will engage in a week’s handover process on March 19 before exiting with fellow crew members.
In particular, the crew -10 will replace crew -9 with a six -month stay, which will ride on experienced dragon endurance rather than a new spacecraft due to manufacturing delay. Ovachinin, who is expected to stay in space by mid -April, will oversee the station operations, with Roskosmos flight engineer Ivan Wagner and NASA flight engineer Don Petit.
