CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida. SpaceX’s first long-running astronaut mission comes to an end, the Crew Dragon capsule undocks from the International Space Station and heads for a splashdown off the coast of Florida early Sunday (May 2).
Dubbed Resilience, the Dragon capsule houses four astronauts who will make the first night water landing in the United States in over 50 years. The crew, NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi, complete a six-month flight to the station.
The astronauts departed the station at 20:35 ET (00:35 GMT) on Saturday (May 1). Their spacecraft Dragon then underwent a series of short burns to move away from the space station.
“Station, thank you for your hospitality, sorry that we stayed a little longer, until we meet on Earth,” Hopkins, commander of Resilience, pleased the station crew after undocking. (Dragon’s Saturday departure has been delayed by several days due to bad weather at the splashdown site.)
Live updates: SpaceX Crew-1 Astronaut Mission to the Space Station
The quartet of astronauts spent six months in space on SpaceX’s first long-term crewed flight called Crew-1, which was launched last November on a Falcon 9 rocket. space station last May. Dubbed Endeavor, the Dragon recently returned to the station on April 24 with four astronauts from Crew 2: NASA staff members Shane Kimbrough and Megan MacArthur, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshaid and ESA astronaut Thomas Peske.
Their arrival marks the first time that two Crew Dragon vehicles have been parked on a space station at the same time. This was also made for close sleep for the crew, as NASA only has a certain number of sleeping bays for astronauts. The arrival of Crew 2 brought the total number of astronauts to 11, with some of them sleeping wherever there was space, and even in the dragons themselves. With the departure of crew-1, the total number of cosmonauts rose again to seven.
On photos: SpaceX Crew-1 Mission to the International Space Station
Night landing
December 27, 1968 Bill Anders, Frank Borman and Jim Lovell from Apollo 8 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. Their flight was the first to orbit the Moon and the first to land at night. Now, 53 years later, the Crew-1 crew will do the same, only this time they crash in the Gulf of Mexico.
NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich explained that rescue teams are trained for both day and night landings. “The vehicle is certified for day or night landings, so there is no problem with the vehicle itself,” he said during a webcast. “And we trained with rescue teams to land day and night.”
Here’s our first look at Crew Dragon Resilience. Shannon Walker and @Astro_Soichi got dressed. @Astro_illini and @AstroVicGlover will now dress after the hatch closes at 18:26 ET (22:26 UTC). pic.twitter.com/9tVaNW4VVuMay 1, 2021
Stich explained that NASA has decided to schedule crew flights for April and October to take advantage of ideal weather conditions. “The main problem with this landing was the weather,” he said. “Forecast [for this day] it was so good and so friendly - this is the best for the team. ”
To prepare for this and any night landing, rescue teams (as well as astronauts) are involved in training under a variety of conditions. They also took advantage of the recent return of the Dragon freighter in January to make sure they were ready.
“The SpaceX crew found this car at night, and the Crew and Cargo Dragons are pretty much identical,” Stich said. “So we’re well prepared for this opportunity.”
NASA and SpaceX have decided to delay the return of the crew twice to wait for perfect weather. The delay paid off as weather officials reported glass-like sea conditions and very calm winds.
Recovery efforts
When Resilience undocked from the International Space Station, both ships sailed 260 miles over Mali, Africa. The crew’s flight home is expected to last approximately 6.5 hours, as the Dragon spacecraft undergoes a series of carefully planned flight burns before final deorbiting.
Under a parachute and a cloak of darkness, the Dragon will descend and land just in time in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Panama City, Florida. The crews expected ideal weather conditions with calm and light winds.
The capsule is to be brought into the water at 2:57 am ET (0657 GMT), and SpaceX’s fast boats will be the first to arrive on the scene, arriving in about 10 minutes. The Dragon evacuator ship, GO Navigator, is the primary rescue ship for this mission and used its onboard evacuation systems to lift the Dragon out of the water.
Once the Dragon is safe, the members of the rescue team will open the hatch and retrieve the team. After exiting the Dragon, the crew members will be screened by medical personnel, then board a helicopter to take them back to shore before another plane takes them back to Houston.
In addition to the four astronauts, the Dragon lifts about 550 pounds. (250 kg) research and delivery back to Earth.
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