A crew of astronauts returned to Earth safely, yesterday, Friday, after a scientific mission that lasted for nearly 6 months, and was the fourth long-term mission launched by SpaceX to the International Space Station for the benefit of the US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The capsule “Crow Dragon”, which is called “Freedom”, made a parachute landing in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida, carrying 3 American astronauts from NASA and an Italian astronaut from the European Space Agency, at the end of a return trip that lasted about 5 hours.
The landing at sea was broadcast at approximately 20:55 GMT, live by a joint broadcast between NASA and SpaceX, according to Reuters.
The capsule crew consisted of Americans Kel Lindgren (49 years), Jessica Watkins (34 years), and Bob Hines (47 years), in addition to Italian Samantha Christopheretti (45 years).
They had started their stay at the station on April 27 last.
An earlier live video on NASA’s website showed the capsule pulling away from the station at the start of its return flight.
The four astronauts were seen with their belts taut in the crew cabin shortly before the capsule separated from the station.
Astronauts on the space station
- Watkins became the first African American to go on a long-term mission aboard the International Space Station.
- The International Space Station is located in an orbit about 400 km above Earth.
- The International Space Station rotates at a speed of about 28,000 kilometers per hour.
- The astronauts spent 170 days aboard the space station.
- The crew orbited the Earth 2,720 times, roughly once every 90 minutes.
- The total that astronauts traveled in orbiting the Earth amounted to about 116 million km.
