The crew of the historic Inspiration4 mission is expected to return to Earth on Saturday with splashdown planned to take place at 7:06 p.m.
SpaceX announced the splashdown time in a post on Twitter Friday evening.
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The post also said that the Dragon capsule would have to perform two burns to reduce the spacecraft’s altitude to ~365km or 226.8 miles above the Earth.
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According to the private space company, both maneuvers have been completed successfully.
Second burn complete. Dragon and the @inspiration4x crew are now in the targeted 365km orbit
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 17, 2021
SpaceX also released an approximate timeline for the Dragon capsule’s return to Earth.
- 5:32 a.m. Forward hatch close
- 6:11 p.m. Trunk jettison
- 6:16 p.m. Deorbit burn start
- 6:31 p.m. Deorbit burn end
- 6:35 p.m. Nosecone closed
- 7:02 p.m. Drogues parachutes deploy
- 7:03 p.m. Main parachutes deploy
- 7:06 p.m. Dragon splashdown
According to SpaceX, Inspiration4 will be the first Dragon crew to splashdown in the Atlantic.
None of the Inspiration4 mission crew have undergone NASA astronaut training. Billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman purchased a ride from SpaceX and through a fundraising campaign for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and a national competition filled the other three seats on the Dragon spacecraft. The rest of the crew include St. Jude physicians assistant Hayley Arceneaux, geoscience professor Dr. Sian Proctor and aerospace engineer Chris Sembroski.