Space Station Crew Heads Home After Seven-Month Mission
Wertynews.com – The space station crew heads home after more than seven months aboard the International Space Station, while the astronauts and cosmonauts replacing them begin a planned six-month tour of duty. The departing Crew 12 team undocked early Wednesday aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Freedom.
Commander Jessica Meir, pilot Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev spent 237 days and five hours in orbit. Freedom separated from the space-facing port on the forward Harmony module at 8:05 a.m. Eastern Time while flying roughly 260 miles above Cuba and the Bahamas.
After undocking, the Dragon spacecraft completed an automated maneuver around the orbital laboratory before moving beyond the station’s protected area. The space station crew heads home with the next phase of its return journey scheduled to begin Thursday.
“We just wanted to give an enormous thank you to all of the team, our friends and colleagues on board the International Space Station, everybody in Houston, everybody at SpaceX, all around the world, with all of our international partners,” Meir said. “We have had the most incredible of expeditions … and we will never forget it.”
Dragon Return Flight and Splashdown Plan
Meir and Hathaway are scheduled to oversee a 9-minute, 20-second deorbit burn using Dragon’s forward Draco thrusters at 10:46 a.m. ET Thursday. The maneuver will lower Freedom’s orbit and set up its atmospheric re-entry.
If the schedule remains unchanged, the capsule will splash down off Southern California at 11:34 a.m. ET. The four crew members will have traveled nearly 101 million miles and completed 3,792 orbits of Earth by the end of the mission.
These rotations allow the International Space Station to remain continuously staffed. Departing crews transfer research, maintenance work and day-to-day operational knowledge to the astronauts taking over in orbit.
New Crew Begins Its Six-Month Stay
Crew 13 arrived at the station on Oct. 1 and is expected to remain in orbit for about six months. Its members are commander Jessica Watkins, pilot Luke Delaney, Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk and cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.
They are joined by the Soyuz MS-29 crew: commander Pyotr Dubrov, cosmonaut Anna Kikina and NASA astronaut Anil Menon. That crew launched from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 14 and is expected to spend eight months in space.
Before the space station crew heads home, Meir formally transferred command of the station to Dubrov during a ceremony Sunday. She presented him with a symbolic station key, marking the handover between the outgoing and incoming crews.
“We will be leaving our friends,” Meir said. “But we know that we are going home to our friends, to our families, to all of our team members on the ground.”
Dubrov said taking command was both an honor and a major responsibility. He connected the occasion with the anniversary of Sputnik’s launch on Oct. 4, describing the station as a symbol of international cooperation in spaceflight.
FAQ: International Space Station Crew Rotation
When will Crew Dragon Freedom return to Earth? The spacecraft is scheduled to begin its deorbit sequence Thursday, with a planned splashdown off Southern California at 11:34 a.m. ET if weather and mission conditions permit.
How long did the departing astronauts spend in space? Crew 12’s mission lasted 237 days and five hours, or more than seven months aboard the International Space Station.
Who is now commanding the space station? Soyuz MS-29 commander Pyotr Dubrov assumed command from Jessica Meir before Crew Dragon Freedom undocked.
The space station crew heads home after completing research, maintenance and operations during a lengthy expedition, while the new residents continue the station’s scientific work and prepare for the months ahead.