[UPDATE: NASA has called off Sunday’s undocking at the ISS due to poor weather conditions at the splashdown site off the coast of Florida. We’ll update here once a new schedule has been announced.]
NASA and SpaceX are preparing to bring home three American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut from the International Space Station (ISS).
On Sunday, NASA’s Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, will fly home aboard the same Crew Dragon capsule that they arrived in back in March.
The four ISS inhabitants spent much of their time in orbit carrying out science research, including a number of studies aimed at improving human health.
The short video below offers a neat overview of Crew-8’s time aboard the station some 250 miles above Earth:
One of the astronauts, Matthew Dominick, also shared a steady stream of impressive photos and time-lapse videos during his first orbital mission.
How to watch
NASA is currently targeting 3:05 a.m. ET (12:03 a.m. PT) on Sunday, October 13, for the undocking of the Crew-8 mission from the space station, though it is monitoring the effects of Hurricane Milton across the Florida peninsula and close to the splashdown zone and will reschedule the flight home if necessary. The space agency’s next weather briefing is planned for 11 a.m. on Friday.
NASA will live stream the undocking on its website, and will likely show the same footage on its X (formerly Twitter) account.
You’ll also be able to listen in on communications between the crew and Mission Control, and NASA is likely to provide a commentary to offer more insight into the spacecraft’s departure.
While the Crew Dragon will appear to edge away from the ISS at a very slow speed, keep in mind that both the spacecraft and the station are in fact orbiting Earth at an astounding 17,500 mph.
NASA will also live stream the splashdown off the coast of Florida, but the agency has yet to share a specific time for that.
