SpaceX - Dragon Crew-5 Mission patch.
March 11, 2023
Image above: The SpaceX Dragon Endurance, which will carry Crew-5 back to Earth, is seen docked to the space station prior to its departure. Image Credit: NASA TV.
At 12:29 a.m. EST, the hatch closed between the Dragon spacecraft, named Endurance, and the International Space Station in preparation for undocking and return to Earth of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission with NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina.
SpaceX Crew-5 hatch closure
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina inside undocked from the forward-facing port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module at 2:20 a.m. EST to complete a nearly six-month science mission.
Image above: The SpaceX Dragon Endurance undocked from the space station at 2:20 a.m. EST, beginning Crew-5’s journey back to Earth. Image Credit: NASA TV.
NASA coverage of Crew-5’s return will continue with audio only, and full coverage will resume at the start of the splashdown broadcast. Real-time audio between Crew-5 and flight controllers at NASA’s Mission Audio stream will remain available and includes conversations with astronauts aboard the space station and a live video feed from the orbiting laboratory.
SpaceX Crew-5 undocking and departure
NASA TV coverage will resume at 8 p.m. Saturday until Endurance splashes down at approximately 9:02 p.m. EST near Tampa off the coast of Florida and Crew-5 members are recovered.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission launched Oct. 5, 2022, on a Falcon 9 rocket from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and docked to the space station the next day.
Related article:
NASA’s Space-X Crew-5 Scientific Mission aboard the Space Station
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/03/nasas-space-x-crew-5-scientific-mission.html
Related links:
NASA TV: https://www.nasa.gov/live
Harmony module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/harmony
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Images (mentioned), Videos, Text, Credits: NASA/Heidi Lavelle/NASA TV/SciNews.
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