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SpaceX Capsule leaves ISS to bring 4 astronauts back to Earth after 6 months


The fourth group of long-term astronauts launched by SpaceX to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA departed from the orbiting outpost on Friday to begin a return flight to Earth, concluding a scientific mission. lasted almost six months.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon carries three US NASA astronauts and an Italian crew member from European Space Agency unloaded from the ISS at 12:05 p.m. EDT (09:35 p.m. IST) to begin a return flight expected to last nearly five hours.

Live video showing the capsule drifting away from the station as the two vehicles soar high across the North Atlantic is shown on a NASA webcast about out of stock.

Dressed in white and black spacesuits with helmets, the four astronauts were seen strapped to the crew capsule just before the spacecraft separated from the station, orbiting a distance of 250 miles (400 km). . The earth.

A variety of brief rocket thrust then automatically ejects the capsule ISS and lower its orbit to line up the capsule for subsequent atmospheric re-entry and splashing.

If all goes well, Crew DragonDubbed Freedom, will parachute into the sea off Florida’s Atlantic coast at 4:55 p.m. local time (02:25 a.m. IST on Saturday).

Freedom Crew, Americans Kjell Lindgren, 49, Jessica Watkins, 34, and Bob Hines, 47, as well as Samantha Cristoferetti, 45, of Italy, arrived at the station on April 27 after the SpaceX launch that day. there. Watkins became the first African-American woman to undertake a long-term mission to the ISS.

That crew has been designated as “Crew 4”, the fourth official long-term group of astronaut launched to the ISS by SpaceX since the private rocket company was founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk began flying NASA personnel in May 2020.

Their departure comes a week after their replacement, Crew-5, boarded – a Russian cosmonaut, a Japanese cosmonaut and two NASA crew members, including Mr. First Native American woman sent into orbit.

Crew 5 is still aboard the ISS with two other Russians and a third American who shared a Soyuz flight to the ISS in September. One of those cosmonauts, Sergey Prokopyev, has taken up the post of only commanding the ISS from the European Space Agency’s Cristoferetti before Crew-4’s departure.

The ISS, which stretches the length of a football field, has been continuously occupied since 2000, operated by a US-Russia partnership that includes Canada, Japan and 11 countries Europe.

© Thomson Reuters 2022


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