UPDATE: NASA has delayed departure several times due to poor weather conditions at the landing site. Read on for the latest details on Crew-4’s return schedule.
After almost six months aboard the International Space Station (ISS), SpaceX’s Crew-4 astronauts will be returning to Earth aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft on Friday, October 14.
NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, and Jessica Watkins, together with ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, will undock from the orbital outpost on Friday morning ET before splashing down nearly eight hours later.
The space agency said it’s keeping an eye on the weather conditions inside the seven targeted landing zones in the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida, with any poor forecasts likely to cause a delay in the crew’s departure from the space station.
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Coverage of the closure of the hatch separating the spacecraft from the ISS is set to take place on Friday, October 14, at 9:30 a.m. ET.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to undock from the ISS at 11:35 a.m. ET. The spacecraft will be seen to move very slowly away from the space-based laboratory, though keep in mind that both the Crew Dragon and ISS are actually moving through space at more than 17,000 mph (27,360 kph), orbiting approximately 250 miles above Earth.
Later on Friday, the Crew Dragon and Crew-4 astronauts will splashdown at 4:50 p.m. ET in a spot yet to be confirmed. A recovery crew will then head to the spacecraft by boat and check on the condition of the astronauts before transporting them back to land, bringing to an end a half-year space mission.
