Initially, the return flight was postponed due to bad weather – on Sunday the astronauts landed safely in the Gulf of Mexico. Things had recently become tight on the International Space Station.
Washington (AP) – After around six months on board the International Space Station (ISS), four astronauts are safely back on earth.
A “Crew Dragon” capsule from the private space company SpaceX with US space travelers Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker and their Japanese colleague Soichi Noguchi landed on Sunday morning (CET) in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of the US state of Florida announced NASA. The capsule had undocked from the ISS during the night after the return flight to Earth had been postponed by a day due to bad weather. The so-called “Crew-1” docked at the ISS in November.
The space station had recently become tight: In addition to “Crew-1”, the cosmonauts Oleg Nowizki and Pyotr Dubrow and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei had also been on board since the beginning of April. Last weekend, four astronauts from “Crew-2 “In addition – the US astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur as well as their Japanese colleague Akihiko Hoshide and the French Thomas Pesquet.
“Crew-1” was the first to fly regularly to the ISS in the “Crew Dragon” after a manned test flight to the ISS last spring was successful. After a break of almost nine years, the test was the first in which astronauts returned to orbit from American soil – and the first time ever that they were promoted by a private space company. The start of the “Crew-3” is currently planned for October.
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Information from NASA
