Two Americans, a Japanese and a Russian are already returning to Earth – they will fall into the waters near Florida

The mission NASA and SpaceX Crew-5 left the International Space Station (ISS) early in the morning of this Saturday 11 and returns to Earth with its four occupants, who will land aboard a capsule in the waters near Florida (USA). after almost six months of being in the space laboratory.

SpaceX Dragon Ship with the name of “Resistence“It embarked on its journey from the ISS at 02:20 local time (07:20 GMT) on Saturday, a few minutes later than expected, and its dive into the sea is scheduled for 21:02 (02:02 GMT on Sunday). , as updated by the US Space Agency.

The splashdown is expected to take place “near Tampa off the (west) coast of Florida,” NASA said.

The undocking of the “Endurance” was broadcast live by NASA in a broadcast where it was possible to observe how the ship moved away in the midst of the darkness of space.

The capsule and its occupants, the Americans Josh Cassada and Nicole Aunapu Mannthe Japanese Koichi Wakata and Russian Anna Kikinathey will be saved in the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico area (there are seven established for this) where the splashdown is finally done.

“The crew is incredibly proud of the work we accomplished while we were there. We are thrilled to be returning to our beautiful planet and those wonderful people there,” said NASA astronaut Josh Cassada after the capsule left the lab. space…

NASA delayed the ISS’s departure twice due to weather problems, last Wednesday and Thursday.

After “Endurance” split, NASA coverage of Crew-5’s return continued with audio only, while full picture coverage resumed with the splashdown broadcast.

This “Mission Audio,” as NASA calls it, includes live discussions between astronauts in space and flight controllers and ground support personnel.

The Crew-5 mission arrived at the space laboratory on 6 Octoberafter a journey of about 30 hours that began in Cape Canaveral (Florida), from where the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off and propelled the ship “Endurance” into space.

It is the first of these missions to the ISS on SpaceX ships that began in 2020 commanded by a woman, the American Nicole Aunapu Mann, also the first member of a Native American tribe to reach space.

It belongs to the Wailacki-Round Valley Indian Tribe of Northern California.

The pilot is Josh Cassada, also American, and the specialists are Koichi Wakata, of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Anna Kikina, of the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

During their nearly six months on the ISS, crew 5 astronauts conducted scientific and technical experiments and station maintenance duties.

Crew-5 was replaced on March 3 by the Crew-6 mission, which arrived at the ISS that day for a six-month stay.

Crew-6 is made up of Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, respectively from the US agency, mission commander and pilot, as well as specialists Sultan Al Neyadi, from the United Arab Emirates space agency, and Andrey Fedyaev, from Russia’s Roscosmos.

Crew-6, like NASA’s other Space X missions, will pave the way for “human exploration beyond low Earth orbit and improving life on Earth,” according to the US space agency.

NASA plans send a manned mission to the moon in 2024 as part of the Artemis program.

With the so-called commercial program with private companies such as Elon Muskwith which it signed a contract in 2014 for 2.6 billion dollars, NASA has resumed trips to the ISS from US territory, something it hasn’t done since the end of the shuttle program in 2011.

EFE extension