A journey of greater than half a 12 months orbiting all over the world is coming to an finish for the four-member group of the SpaceX Crew-7 mission. The Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft undocked from the Worldwide House Station (ISS) at 11:20 a.m. EDT (1520 UTC) after 197 days.
Commander and NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli and her crew, European House Company (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Company (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov bid farewell to the remainder of Expedition 70 throughout a ceremony on Sunday.
“This has been the journey of a lifetime. That is one thing I’ve dreamed about since I used to be a toddler and I used to be afraid I might stand up right here and could be disenchanted and it wouldn’t stay as much as my expectations,” Moghbeli mentioned. “However the worldwide partnership now we have up right here and the area station are simply unbelievable. It’s a sign of what we will do after we work collectively.”
The approaching conclusion of the Crew-7 mission wraps up the primary spaceflights for each Moghbeli and Borisov.
“It’s a bittersweet second. We’ve got been right here for over six months, however the time has flown very quick and it’s time to get again,” Borisov mentioned. “I’m actually joyful that we’ve completed all of the work now we have deliberate to do. The station is working simply tremendous, all of the experiments are going and we all know that we’re taking on by a fantastic group for persevering with into the top of Expedition 70 and into the start of Expedition 71.”
Throughout Mogensen’s remarks cap off his second journey to the area station and his first stint as commander of the ISS. At a complete of 166 days in that function, he enters the historical past books because the longest-serving European astronaut commander to this point.
Mogensen handed off each a ceremonial key to the station together with the commander duties to Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko. That is Kononenko’s third time to imagine command of the ISS.
“On my first mission in 2015, I had the pleasure of flying with Gennady Padalka, who at the moment, set the file for 878 days in area. You’ve now surpassed that and you’re properly in your method to reaching 1,000 days in area, which is an unbelievable achievement,” Mogensen mentioned. “There isn’t a yet one more skilled than you with regards to the Worldwide House Station, so I will probably be leaving it in most likely one of the best fingers attainable.”
Kononenko broke Padalka’s file on Feb. 4, 2024 at 2:30:08 a.m. EST (0730:08 UTC) and he’s in the midst of his fifth journey to area. He’s anticipated to cross that 1,000-day mark on June 5, 2024.
Crew-7 is now within the midst of a 19-hour journey to splashdown off the coast of Florida at roughly 5:50 a.m. EDT (0950 UTC). NASA and SpaceX will host a teleconference round 7 a.m. EDT (1100 UTC) following splashdown to debate the conclusion of the mission.
This kicks off a busy week for each NASA and SpaceX. NASA Administrator Invoice Nelson is internet hosting his State of NASA handle Monday afternoon together with releasing particulars of the FY25 price range request.
In the meantime, SpaceX is making ready for each a mid-week Starlink launch from Florida and the third built-in check flight of its Starship rocket from southern Texas. The latter is ready for clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration earlier than it may possibly launch.
In in submit to social media, SpaceX additionally famous that whereas Crew-7 was making ready to undock, it’s additionally properly into the method of coaching the subsequent quartet who will head to the ISS later this 12 months: Crew-9.
And whereas Crew-8 was readying for launch and Crew-7 was aboard the orbiting laboratory, Crew-9 was making ready for his or her mission at SpaceX pic.twitter.com/scr0RM0DlP
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 11, 2024
