00:00Right there, have our first view of Dragon Freedom coming home to Earth.
00:07And that view is from the WB-57, which is one of NASA's high-altitude planes that is tracking.
00:14Now, because of the way that this camera is configured, it does look like it is dark,
00:19but it is indeed daytime, and you're beginning to see that plasma trail as Dragon reenters the Earth's atmosphere.
00:25All of that is expected. We are anticipating an acquisition of signal around 2.51 p.m. Pacific time,
00:32so just minutes from now, and you may hear the core begin to hail out or call Dragon for communications
00:40and see if we can potentially get communications with them a little bit earlier.
00:44Following this, we'll have two events in rapid succession.
00:47We'll have the drogue parachutes deploy at 2.53 p.m. Pacific,
00:51followed by the mains just one minute later at 2.54 p.m. Pacific time,
00:56ahead of a splashdown at 2.57 p.m. Pacific time off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.
01:13Pretty incredible views of the Dragon spacecraft making its way home back to planet Earth
01:20with the Crew-9 astronauts on board.
01:23Once again, this view is coming from the WB-57 plane.
01:28That heat shield we can see doing magnificent work as it works to…
01:36Freedom, SpaceX, comm check.
01:43All right, we're going to start hearing the SpaceX crew operations resource engineer.
01:50SpaceX, Freedom is with you. 4.16, enjoying the ride.
01:57Copy that, Freedom.
02:02Great news there from Commander Nick Hague reporting back.
02:05We see a healthy flight computer. Expect automated chute deployment.
02:12Freedom copies.
02:17We see the four things moving very quickly as Dragon Freedom makes its way home.
02:25Next event coming up will be deployment of the drogue parachutes.
02:28This occurs around 18,000 feet.
02:31GPS has converged. Expect nominal altitude for drogue chute deployment.
02:45We're about two minutes away from deployment of those drogue parachutes.
02:49Now the heat shield is continuing to work to slow the vehicle down.
02:55That entry period, the Dragon spacecraft went from orbital velocity about 17,500 miles per hour
03:04down to about 350 miles per hour.
03:06So that really gives you a sense of why that plasma builds up on the exterior of the capsule
03:11thanks to the heat shield and the work that it does.
03:14The drogue parachutes will slow it down from 350 to about 119 miles per hour.
03:19We can see seat rotation happening inside the capsule.
03:28Great to get those first views of our crew members.
03:34Once again, the capsules are going about 350 miles per hour when the drogues are deployed.
03:40Those drogue parachutes that we manufacture here in-house are going to slow the spacecraft down to 119 miles per hour.
03:50And that is when we will see the main parachutes deploy.
03:54And that occurs about 6,000 feet above the ocean's surface.
03:59And we are expecting drogue deployment at 2.53 p.m. Pacific.
04:03So we should see it any second now.
04:05And there you are getting a great view of Crew-9 inside Dragon Freedom.
04:09As it returns back to Earth, we are awaiting the drogue deploys.
04:13This view coming from the WB-57 high-altitude plane.
04:17And there you see it on your screen, drogue deployment.
04:24You can hear the crowd here.
04:31The crowd here very excited as Dragon Freedom continues to make its way back to planet Earth.
04:46Next up, we'll stand by for the main deployment of the parachutes.
04:51The mains are quite a bit larger.
04:52You'll be able to notice the difference on your screen once they deploy.
04:55And they continue to ensure that the Dragon spacecraft slows down even further.
05:00As we mentioned, Freedom will be traveling 16 miles per hour
05:04when it splashes down off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida,
05:08here at 2.57 p.m. Pacific time this afternoon.
05:11And there we go.
05:13We have visual on four healthy mains.
05:18That view was from inside.
05:23That view was from inside one of the buckets where the parachutes are located.
05:27So we see a great view there of the reefing on those parachutes.
05:31And as those parachutes, those main parachutes begin to inflate fully, four beautiful, healthy mains.
05:42Now awaiting visuals of splashdown.
05:47We'll start to hear Commander Nick Hague.
05:49Copy 1,000.
05:51As we heard right there, Commander Nick Hague will be calling out the altitude
05:55of the Dragon capsule from here on out.
05:58Landing in water is simpler and provides more margin against unlikely parachute issues.
06:04You can see those parachutes continuing to slow the Dragon capsule down.
06:12And if you're just joining us, you're looking at 800 meters, a live view of Crew 9,
06:20just minutes away from splashing down off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.
06:25Splashdown two minutes from now at 2.57 p.m. Pacific.
06:28We do have four healthy mains really doing the job there.
06:32Just breathtaking views of a calm, glass-like ocean off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.
06:38Crew 9 just minutes away from splashing down.
06:41This is really such an incredible shot.
06:45Copy, 600.
06:48That was a live view from our recovery vessel.
06:52Megan, which is stationed a couple miles away from the splashdown site,
06:58we can see the crew there using their restraints as resting places for their arms.
07:05They were just in space moments ago, so their arms were able to float freely.
07:13400 meters.
07:17This is a gorgeous bluebird day here that we have for the splashdown of Crew 9.
07:24It's incredible to think that the Dragon capsule just minutes ago was going over 17,000 miles per hour
07:34and now gently coasting to a soft splashdown.
07:39200.
07:42Copy, 200 meters. Brace for splashdown.
07:52As you can see there on your screen, continuing to monitor progress of the Dragon spacecraft.
08:00And we're going to stand by for splashdown located in the Gulf of America off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.
08:15And splashdown, Crew 9 back on Earth.
08:30SpaceX Freedom, splashdown. Good main release.
08:35Copy, splashdown. We see main chutes cut.
08:38Nick, Alex, Butch, Sunny, on behalf of SpaceX, welcome home.
08:45So at 3.28 a.m. on the 19th of March, 286 days after Sunita Williams and Butch Willmore had left from the Earth,
08:58they've successfully come back.
09:01A technical snag had them up in the space for nearly nine months, but all of that has come to an end.
09:083.28 a.m., that's when the landing took place.
09:12The soft splash happened, the splashdown happened exactly how the NASA team in partnership with SpaceX
09:20would have wanted things to happen and everything happening to a tee.
09:25Exactly how the engineers, the scientists, the astronauts would have wanted things to play out.
09:31There were plenty of complexities, be it the deorbiting, be it the seven crucial phases that had to all happen in a proper manner
09:41for the landing to take place perfectly.
09:44And everything just played out the way that the concerned stakeholders would have wanted.
09:52286 days and nearly nine months is what two astronauts had to spend up in the space and now they're finally back home.
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