India, March 19 -- As NASA's Crew-9 astronauts, including Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, safely splashed down off the coast of Florida aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, it marked yet another successful chapter in human spaceflight. The return not only signified NASA's ninth commercial crew rotation mission to the International Space Station (ISS) but also underscored humanity's growing mastery over the challenges posed by prolonged space journeys and precise orbital operations.

Hague and Gorbunov's voyage began with a flawless lift-off at 1:17 p.m. on 28 September 2024 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. After a metic...