The “Crew-2” was in space for almost 200 days, now the two Americans, a Japanese and a French are on their way from the ISS back to Earth – albeit with inconvenience.
Cape Canaveral – Without a functioning toilet on board their “Crew Dragon”, four astronauts undocked from the International Space Station ISS on Monday.
The so-called “Crew-2” – consisting of the French Esa astronaut Thomas Pesquet, the NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur as well as the Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide – is to be in the sea off the US state of Florida on Tuesday (4:33 pm CET) land, as announced by the US space agency Nasa. After undocking, the spaceship, which was also loaded with around 250 kilograms of scientific experiments, should first fly around the space station in order to take photos for possible upcoming repairs.
Because the toilet on board Elon Musk’s “Crew Dragon” of the space company SpaceX is broken, the four astronauts who have been on the ISS since April have to wear a kind of diaper when they return. That was “suboptimal”, McArthur had said in advance at a press conference. “But there are many small challenges in space travel and we are ready to get a grip on them.”
Astronaut Maurer could leave Thursday morning
Originally, the undocking of “Crew-2” was planned for Sunday, but was postponed to Monday at short notice due to bad weather conditions. After a successful landing of the “Crew-2”, the German astronaut Matthias Maurer with his “Crew-3” could leave for the ISS on Thursday morning (CET) at the earliest.
The start of the 51-year-old Saarland native was actually planned for the last weekend in October, but has already been postponed several times – among other things because of bad weather and a “minor medical problem” of a crew member. The problem will probably be resolved by the start, it said from NASA, and the weather for the now planned date was initially pleasantly predicted.
For the first time in three years, a German astronaut is supposed to fly into space with Maurer. Together with NASA colleagues Thomas Marshburn, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron, it will take off from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in Florida. These four astronauts are also to be transported in a “Crew Dragon”.
Maurer would be the twelfth German in space
With the flight, Maurer would be the twelfth German in space, the fourth on the ISS and the first to be flown there in a “Crew Dragon”. On the ISS, the astronaut of the European Space Agency (ESA) will carry out numerous experiments for about six months at an altitude of around 400 kilometers and will probably also complete an outdoor mission. The last time a German Esa astronaut was in space was Alexander Gerst in 2018.
A handover between “Crew-2” and “Crew-3” on board the ISS was actually planned. Nasa astronaut Kimbrough said at a press conference that this is now failing, but it is not a problem. The task will now be taken over by NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who came to the ISS in April together with cosmonauts Oleg Nowizki and Pyotr Dubrow.
Maurer wished the “Crew-2” a safe journey home on Monday via Twitter. “It’s a shame that we won’t” fly “each other on the space station now, but we trust that you will leave everything neatly tidy.” Dpa
