American astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are home!
The two NASA space explorers were on a mission launched last summer on a brand-new commercial crew vehicle conducting its first crewed flight. The mission was expected to last ten days but ultimately got extended to 285 days due to technical issues with their returning space capsule. Wilmore and Williams had been living and working side by side in the International Space Station (ISS) along with their US and Russian crewmates Nick Hague, Don Pettit, Alexy Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, and Aleksandr Gorbunov.
Hague and Gorbunov accompanied Wilmore and Williams on their return to earth, splashing down March 18 in their Dragon Freedom capsule. Upon their arrival they were greeted by the recovery crew – and a group of dolphins.
Peraton has been a partner with NASA for more than three decades and its engagement with this mission – from original launch to the astronauts stay and to their arrival home – was no different.
“Our SENSE crew provides critical communications for the Crew Dragon during all phases of the mission – launch, orbit-raising, ISS rendezvous and docking, and re-entry along with splashdown,” said David Cunniff, a subject matter expert on space systems at Peraton.
SENSE stands for NASA’s Space Exploration Network Services and Evolution. As part of our partnership with NASA, it provides full lifecycle communications and tracking services while identifying and implementing architectural improvements to gain efficiency and optimization.
Cunniff proudly noted that the SENSE team was also involved in the original launch of the two NASA astronauts on June 5, 2024. The SENSE team complements the company’s Deep Space Network (DSN) team, together providing communications coverage for all of NASA’s critical missions. The DSN team was also standing by if needed for the ongoing mission.
Jacob Silva, who works on the SENSE contract, also said that the Peraton SENSE team successfully supported the SpaceX Crew-10 launch on March 14 and the Dragon capsule docking with the ISS on March 16.
“The critical Human Space Flight (HSF) events were flawlessly supported by multiple Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS),” said Silva. “SENSE will continue to support the four crew members as they perform research, technology demonstrations, and maintenance activities aboard the ISS.”
Peraton has long supported national space and ground programs from launch to on-orbit flight operations. The company’s advanced technologies manage distant spacecraft and facilitate vital data exchange while driving efficiencies in the development, operation, and maintenance of some of the most complex mission systems on Earth – and beyond.
Image Credit: NASA
