A new four-member crew will soon set out on the ISS, and their rocket could take off as early as Thursday morning, CET, in good weather and technology.
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The crew’s descent was broadcast live by the US space agency NASA and SpaceX, which operates flights for NASA. The Crew Dragon spacecraft is controlled by an autopilot, who, after disconnecting from the ISS, took it for about an hour and a half to fly around the station, during which the crew mapped the condition of its exterior with the help of photographs.
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Crew Dragon then underwent a series of maneuvers, thanks to which he got into the desired position towards the Earth. The ship then slowed enough with its engines to rush into the Earth’s atmosphere in a controllable speed at about 27,359 kilometers per hour.
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Another mission on Thursday
As it passes through increasingly dense air, the ship’s heat shield must face temperatures of up to 1900 degrees Celsius. As expected, the crew lost contact with the control center for several minutes during the descent. However, the vessel emerged into the darkness over Florida in good condition and, after launching two series of parachutes, landed in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Rescue ships immediately rushed to the scene and picked up the capsule from the sea.
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SpaceX successfully deployed to the ISS and returned the third human crew in its Crew Dragon ships, which are launched into orbit by the Falcon 9 rocket. year. In doing so, the US broke a nine-year gap during which it was unable to send a crew to the ISS in its ships and had to rely on Russia’s Soyuz space program.
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The parachutes are braked by the Crew Dragon before landing in the Gulf of Mexico
Photo: Uncredited, TK/AP
The “Crew 3” crew, consisting of NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, Kayla Barron and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, was scheduled to launch the space station at the end of October. However, the start was postponed several times due to bad weather and unspecified health problems of one of the mission members. It is now planned to start the engines on Thursday at 03:03 CET.
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