The SpaceX Crew-4 astronauts are seated inside the Dragon Freedom crew ship. The commercial crew quartet (from left) are Mission Specialist Jessica Watkins, Pilot Robert Hines, Commander Kjell Lindgren, and Mission Specialist Samantha Cristorforetti. Photo credit: SpaceX
After nearly six months in space, three NASA astronauts and one European astronaut are set to return to Earth on Thursday if the weather off Florida’s coast cooperates.
NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins, Robert Hines and Kjell Lindgren, along with European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti are scheduled to depart the International Space Station on Thursday morning aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
SpaceX and NASA had been targeting to begin the journey on Wednesday evening. However, mission control in Houston waved off the attempt due to weather concerns off Florida’s coast. The Crew Dragon capsule can splash down in one of seven locations around the Florida peninsula. Mission managers consider wave height, wind and rain before deciding where the Dragon lands.
A cold front passing over Florida has the potential to bring high winds and rain near the splashdown zones on both the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
The American and European astronauts are set to depart the ISS at 10:05 a.m. EDT Thursday. With the help of a parachute system to slow from over 350 mph to about 1 mph, the Crew Dragon will splash down off the coast of Florida at 5:43 p.m.
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SpaceX recovery teams will be waiting to collect the Dragon and its crew from the water with support from NASA and the U.S. Coast Guard.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon successfully docked at the International Space Station after a 29-hour flight, bringing NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina to the orbiting laboratory.
SpaceX recently launched the latest batch of ISS residents from Kennedy Space Center, marking the fifth mission under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and the first with a Russian cosmonaut.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon delivered the Crew-5 mission with NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina to the ISS on Oct. 6.