Astronauts leave ISS, start return journey to Earth on SpaceX craft
03 May, 2021
Four astronauts left the International Space Station on Saturday aboard a SpaceX vessel, after a lot more than 160 days in space that will culminate in a splash landing off the Florida coast.
The Crew Dragon capsule undocked from the ISS as scheduled at 8:35 pm (0035 Sunday GMT). With the flight back again to Earth likely to take six-and-a-half hours, the crew was scheduled to splash down in the dark off Panama City, Florida, in the Gulf coast of florida at 2:57 am (0657 GMT).
"Dragon separation visually confirmed," a NASA commentator said after two sets of six hooks tying the capsule to the ISS retracted.
The capsule then fired a number of short bursts using its thrusters to gently ease away from the ISS.
NASA livestream footage showed the Crew Dragon capsule moving off into the dark as it began its journey back to Earth, its rear engines smoking cigarettes in small flashes.
Seven astronauts remained on the ISS including a new crew of four who arrived on a different SpaceX craft the other day.
"Thanks for your hospitality," Michael Hopkins, among the departing US astronauts, said as the capsule moved away. "We'll see you back on the planet."
NASA and SpaceX have alternative splash down sites ready, aside from Panama City, if you need to.
"We have been practicing to recuperate the crews day or night," Steve Stich, NASA's Commercial Crew program manager, said shortly prior to the capsule's departure.
"The ships have plenty of lighting," helped by "good moonlight," he said, adding that climate were excellent, with calm seas.
SpaceX boats are anticipated to reach the capsule about ten minutes after splashdown.
Astronauts Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Japan's Soichi Noguchi visited space last November as the crew on the first fully operational mission to the ISS aboard a car created by Elon Musk's SpaceX, which has become NASA's favored commercial transportation partner.
Prior to that, two American astronauts made a test mission to the ISS in May and stayed for just two months.
That was the first launch to the ISS from US soil since the end of the area Shuttle program in 2011. It was also the first crewed mission run by an exclusive company, as opposed to NASA.
Until then US astronauts had caught rides to the ISS aboard Russian spacecraft.
"IT FLEW BY"
The four astronauts who left Saturday - their mission was called Crew-1 - will splash down in the same capsule in which they traveled into space in November. With them are freezers with samples from zero-gravity scientific experiments they conducted aboard the ISS.
On Tuesday, departing astronaut Walker handed over command of the ISS to a member of the newly arrived crew, Akihiko Hoshide of Japan.
"While our crew complement time together has been relatively short, that is definitely a time that I will cherish forever," Walker said. "What is really likely to remain with me may be the camaraderie and the friendship."
Ultimately the departing astronauts spent 168 days aboard the ISS.
"It flew by. It has really gone by quickly," said Glover.
"All of us, obviously, are very worked up about the splashdown due to what it will enable, and that is the go back to our families," said Hopkins.
"We're all very happy with the mission. I think we are all very excited though to come home as well," he said.
The departure was initially scheduled for Wednesday but postponed twice because of forecasts of inclement weather at the splash down site.
In August, when both astronauts who completed the test mission splashed down, a flotilla of flag-waving leisure boats had approached the region and had to be shooed away.
Besides the new crew of four, the ISS continues to be home to another American and two Russians.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
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