BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – The crew of Axiom Mission 3, or Ax-3, have officially departed from the International Space Station.
The undocking from the space station happened around 9:20 a.m. Wednesday morning with the four crew members inside the SpaceX Dragon capsule, NASA said.
Undocking had previously been scheduled for Saturday, yet unfavorable recovery conditions off the Florida coast have prompted days of delay, SpaceX said.
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Four #Ax3 astronauts from @Axiom_Space undocked from the space station inside the @SpaceX Dragon spacecraft at 9:20am ET today targeting a splashdown off the coast of Florida at 8:30am on Friday. More... https://t.co/k1EEFXASUe pic.twitter.com/PSdJoKYrF1
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) February 7, 2024
Axiom Space said the crew will now take a 47-hour ride around Earth before splashing down near Daytona Beach no earlier than Feb. 9 at 8:30 a.m.
The crew of four blasted off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center back on Jan. 18. The crewmembers consist of Walter Villadei of Italy as pilot and Michael López-Alegría of Spain as commander with mission specialists Marcus Wandt of Sweden and Alper Gezeravcı of Turkey, the first all-European lineup to launch to the space station.
The crew has been conducting various research experiments at the space station.
Last week, astronauts onboard the space station gave remarks and thanked the Ax-3 crew for their time onboard.
Ax-3 Mission | Farewell Ceremony https://t.co/PH2vi4BNbN
— Axiom Space (@Axiom_Space) February 2, 2024
Dragon will conduct multiple orbit-lowering maneuvers, jettison the trunk and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere for splashdown off the coast of Florida around 8:30 a.m. Friday, SpaceX said on its website.
It would be the first Central Florida landing of a SpaceX crew capsule since the Inspiration 4 mission three years ago.
Space journalist Dr. Ken Kremer said the Coast Guard will stop boaters who get too close to the splashdown zone like all the boats in the water the first time a SpaceX crew capsule landed.
That was near Pensacola in 2020 and since then, no one can get within 10 miles, Kremer said, for safety reasons.
“What if something happens with the capsule on the return back and they need to get emergency medical care or there’s damage or something else?” Kremer asked. “The rescue crews need to get in there very quickly.”
NASA and SpaceX plan to stream the undocking and splashdown on social media.
Later this month, NASA and SpaceX will launch Crew-8 to the International Space Station. Teams are targeting a launch no earlier than Feb. 22.
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