[ad_1]
The Crew Dragon spacecraft is expected to splash down at 2:57 a.m. ET Sunday.
After six months in space, four astronauts on a historic NASA-SpaceX mission have started their journey back to Earth.
SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, dubbed Resilience, undocked from the International Space Station at 8:35 p.m. ET Saturday. It's scheduled to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida at about 2:57 a.m. ET Sunday. The return will air live on NASA Television, the NASA App and the agency's website.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, topped with the Crew Dragon capsule, is readied to carry four astronauts on the first operational NASA commercial crew mission at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Nov. 13, 2020.
The undocking was moved from Friday due to unfavorable wind speeds forecast at the time of the anticipated splashdown. More ideal conditions are in the forecast for Sunday's splashdown and recovery, NASA said. The U.S. Coast Guard has established a 10-nautical-mile safety zone around the expected splashdown location.
This will be the first nighttime splashdown of a U.S.-crewed spacecraft since Apollo 8's return on Dec. 27, 1968, in the Pacific Ocean.
Three NASA astronauts -- Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker -- and Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are making the journey home. They launched into orbit Nov. 15, 2020, in what was the first operational crewed flight for the Crew Dragon capsule as part of NASA's commercial crew mission, and SpaceX's second-ever crewed flight to space.
For the past six months, the astronauts have worked on several experiments, including producing food in space by growing radishes in different types of light and soils. They also studied tissue chips that mimic human organs to learn more about how microgravity affects human health and diseases.
The crew is in "great health" for the return flight, NASA said. Ahead of Saturday's undocking, they were packing science freezers filled with research samples, personal items and emergency hardware in the Resilience spacecraft.
"Coming home soon!" Hopkins, the Crew-1 Dragon resilience commander, tweeted hours before the undocking. "It's been a great mission with great teams both on the ground and on @Space_Station."
Glover, the crew's pilot, expressed "gratitude, wonder, connection" after celebrating his 45th birthday in space on Friday.
"This orbiting laboratory is a true testament to what we can accomplish when we work together as a team," he said on Twitter. "Crew-1 is ready for our ride home!"
When they land, the Crew-1 astronauts will have spent 168 days in space. Upon splashdown, they will return to Houston. The Dragon spacecraft will be recovered and return to Cape Canaveral, where it will be inspected and refurbished for future missions.
Crew-1 was the first of six crewed missions NASA and SpaceX plan to fly as part of NASA's commercial crew mission.
Source link
[ad_2]
source https://earn8online.com/index.php/258397/historic-nasa-spacex-mission-begins-journey-home-from-international-space-station/
No comments:
Post a Comment