After a six-month delay, three astronauts and one cosmonaut finally began their journey back home after the SpaceX Dragon capsule undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) in the early hours of Thursday.
Astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin departed the ISS onboard the Dragon capsule around 2:40 am (IST) on Thursday.
After a journey of around 34 hours, the three astronauts and one cosmonaut of Crew 8 are likely to splash down near the Florida coast on Friday at around 1 pm (IST). The public can catch the live coverage of the undocking process, which will be live-streamed on NASA+ and the agency’s website.
Hurricane Milton in the way
While the astronauts were first scheduled to return on October 7, their undocking was called off because of Hurricane Milton in Florida, which intensified into a Category 3 storm.
NASA stated that the return flight was put off several times again because of unfavourable weather conditions near the splashdown sites.
The mission, which was launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida’s Launch Complex 39A on March 5, featured a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket tossing the Dragon spacecraft, named Endeavour, into orbit. This marked the eighth commercial crew rotation mission to the ISS.
Astronauts Dominick, Barratt, Epps, and Grebenkin’s journey to the ISS was a scientific expedition that included over 200 experiments and technology demonstrations.
Although the astronauts were initially set to return to Earth in September, the Starliner encountered technical difficulties, prompting NASA to bring the capsule back without a crew.
As part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Programme, the Crew-8 mission will return important and time-sensitive research to Earth, stated the space agency in its official release.
Sunita Williams unable to return
Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore launched on the Starliner, were originally planned for a week-long stay at the ISS but have now been unable to return for four months.
