March 29, 2024

Landing at sea - Four astronauts return safely from the ISS space station - News

Landing at sea – Four astronauts return safely from the ISS space station – News

  • Four astronauts disembarked from the International Space Station and returned to Earth Tuesday morning (CET) unharmed.
  • The so-called “Crew-2” has been on the International Space Station since April.
  • Part of this crew were French astronauts from the European Space Agency Thomas Pesquet, NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrae and Megan MacArthur and Japanese astronauts Akihiko Hoshed.

The Crew-2 capsule was watered as planned in the sea off the coast of the US state of Florida. This was the third crew member brought to the International Space Station by NASA in a special SpaceX capsule. The astronauts also made the return trip with the SpaceX space capsule.

Originally, “Crew-2” was scheduled to separate on Sunday. However, the return flight was postponed to Monday at short notice due to bad weather.

The return trip is a bit ‘suboptimal’

Because the toilet on board the capsule was broken, the four astronauts had to wear some kind of diaper upon their return. This was “suboptimal,” MacArthur said in advance at a press conference. “But there are many small challenges in space travel and we are ready to take control of them.”

By the way, things continue in quick succession: after the successful landing of the “Crew-2”, the next crew is already in the starting blocks. At the earliest on Thursday (CET), German astronaut Matthias Maurer and his “crew 3” are supposed to blast off to the International Space Station. On board the International Space Station at an altitude of about 400 km, “Crew-3” will also conduct several experiments over a period of six months.

See also  The death of an Iranian conservative cleric, according to state media