Four astronauts on their way to Earth aboard the SpaceX spacecraft

The Crew Dragon capsule separated from the International Space Station at 8:35 pm on Saturday on the east coast of the United States.

Thank you for your hospitality … We will meet again on EarthMichael Hopkins, one of the four astronauts, fired those who remained on the station.

The return trip to Earth is expected to take approximately 6.5 hours.

The four astronauts are scheduled to land at 2:57 am on Sunday in the Gulf of Mexico. The planned landing site is located off Panama City, Florida, but other alternative sites have been identified as needed.

We trained with the crews day and nightSteve Stitch, head of NASA’s commercial flight program, reassured in an interview shortly before the capsule departed. The boats have a lot of lighting We will have moon lightHe added that the weather conditions were excellent at the moment with the calm sea.

SpaceX ships can access the capsule About 10 minutes after landingExplained.

A first for SpaceX

The Americans Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Japanese Soishi Noguchi last November were the first astronauts on a mission. Employment To be transported to the International Space Station by the Elon Musk space company, which has proven itself as a primary partner of NASA.

Two Americans actually made a round trip aboard the Dragon in 2020, during a two-month test mission aboard the station. It was the first flight to the International Space Station launched from the United States since the end of the space shuttles in 2011, and the first to be operated by a private company with astronauts on board.

This time it is the first regular mission brought back to Earth by SpaceX.

to me splash Finally, the astronauts aboard the same Dragon Ship, baptized Resilience, Which took them into orbit, which SpaceX then plans to reuse on other missions, after being revamped.

Dragon takes on board too Scientific freezers filled with research samples NASA said it carried out in Zero Gravity.

The departure of this Crew-1 crew comes after its arrival on the International Space Station last week on a second regular mission by the American company (Crew-2), which includes French astronaut Thomas Pisquet, who had the stick. It has been passed in the last days.

Shannon Walker handed command of the International Space Station to Astronaut Crew 2 on Tuesday in a symbolic ceremony. I will cherish these moments forever, She was announced on this occasion.

168 days in space

In total, Crew-1 will spend 168 days in space. Time flies by, it’s gone so fastVictor Glover has been sentenced.

We are all, as you can imagine, very excited about this water drop, for what it will allow, which is to return to our families.For his part, Michael Hopkins said. We are very happy with this job. I guess we all can’t wait to get home either.

They were initially scheduled to leave the International Space Station on Wednesday, then Friday, but had to be postponed each time due to bad weather forecast in the landing area.

NASA and SpaceX Work closely with the U.S. Coast Guard to establish a 10 nautical mile safety zone around the landing site to ensure the safety of the public The US space agency said in a statement that the people responsible for escorting the astronauts.

During the astronauts’ return from the test mission in August 2020, the pleasure boats approached very close to where the capsule would land and had to be removed.

In addition to the four Crew-2 astronauts, another American astronaut and Rusan, who arrived on board the Soyuz rocket, they remain on the International Space Station. Before leaving Crew-1, the space station was inhabited by at least 11 people.