{"id":10532,"date":"2022-05-06T00:35:20","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T16:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/dragon-crew-capsule-undocks-from-space-station-heads-for-splashdown-friday\/"},"modified":"2022-05-06T00:35:20","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T16:35:20","slug":"dragon-crew-capsule-undocks-from-space-station-heads-for-splashdown-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/dragon-crew-capsule-undocks-from-space-station-heads-for-splashdown-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"Dragon crew capsule undocks from space station, heads for splashdown Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_56814\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-56814\" style=\"width: 1050px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56814\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/crew3-iss-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/crew3-iss-1.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/crew3-iss-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/crew3-iss-1-678x452.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/crew3-iss-1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-56814\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, pilot Tom Marshburn, commander Raja Chari, and mission specialist Kayla Barron try on their SpaceX pressure suits before departing the International Space Station after a six-month expedition. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Three NASA astronauts and a European Space Agency mission specialist left the International Space Station early Thursday aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, heading for splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida to wrap up a 176-day expedition in orbit.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX\u2019s Dragon Endurance spacecraft undocked from the station\u2019s Harmony module at 1:20 a.m. EDT (0520 GMT), about 15 minutes later than scheduled to allow SpaceX engineers to evaluate a timing issue on the crew\u2019s cockpit displays associated with data received from NASA\u2019s network data relay satellites.<\/p>\n<p>As expected, the timing issue resolved itself when the Dragon spacecraft disconnected power and data umbilicals linked to the space station. Twelve hooks opened to allow the capsule to back away from the complex with a series of thruster firings.<\/p>\n<p>Within a half-hour, the Dragon Endurance spacecraft moved outside the space station\u2019s approach corridor. Mission control confirmed the capsule was on a safe trajectory to begin lining up for re-entry and splashdown early Friday. The Dragon capsule left behind a team of seven astronauts and cosmonauts on the station\u2019s Expedition 67 crew.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStation, Endurance,\u201d Chari radioed after undocking. \u201cGood luck to Expedition 67. It was great being up there with you guys. We can\u2019t wait to see all the awesome work you guys continue to do on that amazing orbital laboratory up there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chari, pilot Tom Marshburn, astronaut Kayla Barron, and ESA mission specialist Matthias Maurer&nbsp;launched Nov. 10 on the Crew-3 mission, riding a Falcon 9 rocket into orbit from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Dragon Endurance spacecraft docked with the space station about 21-and-a-half hours later.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1522084307761872897&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fspaceflightnow.com%2F2022%2F05%2F05%2Fdragon-crew-capsule-undocks-from-space-station-heads-for-splashdown-friday%2F&amp;sessionId=6c2e4986718396fb00642b5f855e26919454b120&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1522084307761872897\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782464693889326907=\"true\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Physical separation.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX\u2019s Dragon Endurance spacecraft has departed the International Space Station with commander Raja Chari, pilot Tom Marshburn, mission specialist Kayla Barron and European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer.https:\/\/t.co\/SBbgyLgfnI pic.twitter.com\/RShjyThffF<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) May 5, 2022<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Chari and his crewmates will have some off-duty time in the Dragon spacecraft until re-entry preparations get underway late Thursday. The astronauts will put on their custom-fitted spacesuits before a deorbit burn at 11:53 p.m. EDT Thursday (0353 GMT Friday).<\/p>\n<p>The braking maneuver will slow the spacecraft\u2019s velocity enough for Earth\u2019s gravity to pull the capsule back into the atmosphere. The craft will deploy four main parachutes before a relatively gentle splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida at 12:43 a.m. EDT (0443 GMT).<\/p>\n<p>With a splashdown just after midnight Friday, the Crew-3 astronauts will have spent more than 176 days in orbit.<\/p>\n<p>Marshburn, a veteran astronaut on his third flight to space, ceremonially handed over command of the International Space Station crew to Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev Wednesday, a few hours before departure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been an interesting day for us,\u201d Marshburn said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been flying around the station, collecting our last minute photos, our last minute items, and getting ready to come home, so a bit of a bittersweet day for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think, for all of us, it\u2019s really hard to leave,\u201d Barron said. \u201cWe\u2019re really looking forward to getting back to our families and our amazing support network on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Crew-3 astronauts are part of SpaceX\u2019s third operational crew rotation flight to the space station for NASA. The crew was on-board the research outpost as diplomatic relations between the United States and Russia, the two most significant partners on the station, frayed in the aftermath of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>The fallout from the invasion led to the suspension of many cooperative spaceflight projects between Russia and Western countries, including Soyuz launch operations at the European spaceport in French Guiana, and the indefinite delay of the ESA-Russian ExoMars mission that was scheduled for launch later this year.<\/p>\n<p>But work on the space station continued without interruption. The station requires key contributions from the U.S. and Russian segments to maintain operations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&nbsp;think the lasting leagacy of the space station is very likely to be international cooperation and a place of peace,\u201d Marshburn said has he handed over command to Artemyev. \u201cOleg, you\u2019re a very strong and experienced cosmonaut. I know we\u2019ll be leaving the space station in good hands with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Artemyev arrived at the station in March with two Russian cosmonaut crewmates \u2014 Sergey Korsakov and Denis Matveev.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a short period (together) \u2026 and now we\u2019re brothers and sisters,\u201d Artemyev told the Crew-3 astronauts. \u201cWhat\u2019s more important for me, for Sergey and for Denis, is our family, our children, peace between our countries, and our friendship. thank you for your friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Crew-3 astronauts were being replaced by the recently-arrived Crew-4 astronauts, who launched last week on SpaceX\u2019s Dragon Freedom spacecraft. They arrived at the station April 27 for a mission slated to last at least four months.<\/p>\n<p>Chari, Barron, and Maurer are concluding their first space mission.<\/p>\n<p>Marshburn is in the home stretch of his third spaceflight. In a press conference last month, Marshburn said he was looking forward to a hot bath.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI miss our planet,\u201d he said. \u201cI miss being tucked up under the clouds and feeling the rain that\u2019s coming from above and feeling my toes in the sand, the grass.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of the highlights of the mission for Marshburn, a medical doctor and former NASA flight surgeon, was watching his fellow astronauts experience spaceflight for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s been a hugely fulfilling and wonderful experience, having three crewmates,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve gone from being rookies to veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marshburn added that life aboard the space station was not directly impacted by the strained relations between Russia and Western nations on Earth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been a very collegial, very friendly relationship together up here,\u201d Marshburn said. \u201cWe really need each other for our survival. It is a dangerous environment, so we just go with our training, we go with recognizing that we are all up here for the same purpose, to explore, and to keep this space station maintained and to keep performing the science in our laboratories.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo the dynamic hasn\u2019t changed,\u201d Marshburn said in response to a question from Spaceflight Now. \u201cWe have about a 40-year history of working with the Russians (in space), and that is all very much in work and play here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, pilot Tom Marshburn, commander Raja Chari, and mission specialist Kayla Barron try on their SpaceX pressure suits before departing the International Space Station after a six-month expedition. Credit: NASA Three NASA astronauts and a European Space Agency mission specialist left the International Space Station early Thursday aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10532"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}