NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission has finally concluded after an unexpected nine-month journey to the International Space Station (ISS). The astronauts aboard; Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams and Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, successfully touched down in Florida on Tuesday evening. 

Wilmore and Williams launched into space aboard Boeing’s Starliner in June 2024 as part of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test. Originally planned as a one-week mission, their stay was extended due to technical issues with the spacecraft, leading them to join NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission. 

NASA reports that during their mission, Williams and Wilmore traveled 121,347,491 miles, spent 286 days in space and completed 4,576 orbits around Earth. However, their prolonged exposure to microgravity could have brought potential health risks. Studies have shown that extended time in space can have a significant impact on the human body, resulting in muscle atrophy, bone density loss, cardiovascular changes, visual impairments and even an increased risk of cancer. This makes post-mission health assessments and continued research critical. 

Upon their return to Earth, the astronauts reunited with their families before being flown to Houston for a comprehensive health evaluation and quarantine at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). With long-duration missions becoming more common as NASA prepares for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit, the health data from Crew-9’s return will play a vital role in shaping future spaceflight standards. 

As a leader in both aerospace and healthcare, Houston is the ideal location for these crucial post-mission assessments. The city is home to world-renowned research institutions like Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), which houses the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH), a collaboration with the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. TRISH plays a key role in studying the health impacts of space travel and developing countermeasures to address the challenges astronauts face in space, ensuring their long-term well-being as they prepare for future missions. 

While TRISH will not be directly conducting the astronauts' health evaluations, the findings from Crew-9’s return could contribute significantly to its ongoing research efforts. 

“NASA conducts all health examinations for its astronauts,” Dr. Dorit Donoviel, Executive Director of TRISH, told the Greater Houston Partnership. “While TRISH is not conducting research on the NASA astronauts who returned from space earlier this week, we are confident that Butch and Suni’s extended stay in space will provide invaluable knowledge and insights that will add to our shared goal with NASA of keeping humans healthy during long-duration space missions. Similar data is collected from TRISH’s commercial spaceflight research program, EXPAND, from civilians. Our goal is to get a comprehensive idea of how the human body responds to spaceflight. Private and public partnerships like these allow for us to all move toward furthering human exploration and continue to examine how the harsh environment of space can challenge the body to better prepare astronauts for future missions.”   

Last year, TRISH announced a new initiative with Blue Origin, an aerospace company known for its reusable rocket engines, to conduct biomedical research on passengers flying on the company’s New Shepard rocket. 

“This initiative enables TRISH to further our research in space medicine by collecting valuable human health data,” said Jimmy Wu, TRISH deputy director and chief engineer and assistant professor at BCM, in a news release. “New data from suborbital flights builds our understanding of how the human body responds to spaceflight. This holistic view is key in keeping humans healthy and safe in space.” 

Splashdown confirmed! #Crew9 is now back on Earth in their @SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. pic.twitter.com/G5tVyqFbAu

— NASA (@NASA) March 18, 2025

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