SpaceX’s Crew-4 mission is again on Earth.
Crew-4’s Dragon capsule, named Freedom, splashed down round 4:55 p.m. EDT (2055 GMT) close to Jacksonville, Florida following an International Space Station (ISS) mission, reaching the Atlantic Ocean safely on Friday (Oct. 14).
The profitable return adopted two weather-related undocking delays Wednesday (Oct. 12) and Thursday (Oct. 13). Undocking was additionally delayed by half-hour on Friday to 12:05 p.m. EDT (1605 GMT) confirm alignment of the hatches between the 2 spacecraft.
“We want you godspeed and protected re-entry,” a member of Expedition 68 informed the departing crew within the moments after undocking.
Other than the tough climate in previous days on the touchdown website, the Crew Dragon spacecraft clicked via all touchdown milestones flawlessly and introduced its 4 astronauts safely again to Earth: NASA’s Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, Jessica Watkins and the European Area Company’s Samantha Cristoforetti.
Associated: Amazing photos of SpaceX’s Crew-4 mission
As its title suggests, Crew-4 is the fourth contracted astronaut mission that SpaceX has flown to the ISS for NASA.
The quartet of astronauts launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on April 27 and arrived on the orbiting lab that very same day. The astronauts carried out greater than 200 scientific experiments throughout their day without work Earth, NASA officers have stated.
Cristoforetti made historical past throughout the mission, changing into the primary European girl ever to command the ISS. She handed the reins of the station over to Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev throughout a change-of-command ceremony on Tuesday (Oct. 11).
Although Crew-4 is gone, the orbiting lab nonetheless hosts a SpaceX mission: the four-person Crew-5 arrived on Oct. 6 for a roughly five-month keep.
Like SpaceX, Boeing holds a contract with NASA’s Industrial Crew Program. Boeing is gearing up for its first astronaut mission to the ISS, a crewed take a look at flight that would launch as early as February 2023.
This story was up to date at 4:55 p.m. EDT to mirror the profitable touchdown.
Mike Wall is the creator of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a ebook in regards to the seek for alien life. Comply with him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).
