Space Station astronauts have already returned to Earth. Crew Dragon has already separated from ISS – Science

This is a busy week at the space station, with the Crew-2 mission team leaving 6 months in space and the arrival of Crew-3, which should leave on Day 10 from Cape Canaveral, if the weather is good, if they keep up. This departure has already been postponed twice, once due to the weather and once due to health reasons for one of the astronauts.

Despite online monitoring, the moment of docking did not contain video, an option justified by the change in the signal connection to the satellite, but the scientists reporting the report provided audio confirmation.

Watch the online broadcast here

The astronauts had already been for over an hour in the capsule produced by SpaceX that will bring them back to Earth, after more than 6 months aboard the space station. Crew Dragon has been linked to the Harmony unit.

During the distance from the spacecraft, the team will always encounter the International Space Station and this is an opportunity to make a photographic reconnaissance of the outer part of the orbital station, which is more than 20 years old.

One of the astronauts aboard the Crew-2 is Thomas Pesquet, an astronaut at the European Space Agency, who shared amazing images taken from space, Including the aurora borealis this weekend.

The Crew-2 mission starts on April 23 and has 4 astronauts, two from NASA, Shane Kimbra and Megan MacArthur, one from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Akihiko Hoshied, and one from European Space Agency (ESA) Thomas Fishing.

Returning to Earth would take about 6 hours, and although it seems normal, this is always a delicate moment, especially the return to the atmosphere.

The capsule will “land” in the ocean and the estimated time is 10:33 p.m. EDT, about 3:33 a.m. in mainland Portugal.

Crew 3 prepares for a new mission

SpaceX’s Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled for November 10, after it was Scheduled to be held at the end of October then to The first days of November. On that day, according to the US space agency, the probability of favorable weather conditions is 80%.

According to NASA, this new date was set to allow time for Crew 2 Return to Earth, before the departure of the astronauts who will replace this team. This flight was scheduled for Sunday as well, but due to weather conditions it was postponed one day.

Crew-3 will depart at 02:03, Lisbon time, from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, this Wednesday, with arrival at the EEI scheduled for 11:00:10.

The Crew-3 mission will last six months and is the third in the scope of the program joining NASA and Elon Musk, through which the agency uses private space carriers to ensure this type of transportation. With Space-X, six transfer missions to and from EEI have been agreed.

Delays in leaving Crew-3 were due to weather conditions first, and a health issue on the four-astronaut team, which NASA explained at the time was not serious, nor related to Covid-19. After these two postponements, the date was again adjusted to allow Crew-2 to return before the next game.

NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Kayla Barron and Thomas Marshburne are part of the Crew-3 mission, as well as German Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency.

(under update)