Skip to main content

NASA targets today for Crew-5 astronauts’ journey home

SpaceX’s Crew-5 astronauts are aiming to depart the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, bringing to an end a five-month stay aboard the facility.

The current plan is for NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, along with Japan’s Koichi Wakata and Russia’s Anna Kikina, to undock from the space station aboard their Crew Dragon spacecraft at 5:05 p.m. ET before splashing down at 9:25 p.m. ET on Friday, March 10.

Recommended Videos

NASA and SpaceX had originally targeted Thursday morning for the Crew Dragon’s undocking, but high winds at the splashdown site prompted the mission team to delay the departure.

The space agency said that while it’s now aiming for Thursday afternoon, it’s continuing to evaluate the weather conditions and so the timings may still be subject to change.

The space agency shared a short video featuring some of the highlights from Crew-5’s time aboard the space-based laboratory over the last 154 days.

After months aboard the @Space_Station, the astronauts of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission are returning home! https://t.co/TMwCLtFCey pic.twitter.com/BLrzIUETfq

— ISS Research (@ISS_Research) March 8, 2023

In the video, Cassada says: “I’m often asked, what is it we’re going to learn [while we’re aboard the ISS], and I know that if we already know what we’re going to find, then there’s no reason to be doing the science. The reason we’re doing the science is because we don’t know what we’re going to find, but I know it’s going to be awfully, awfully cool.”

NASA put it a little more dryly: “During their time aboard the orbiting laboratory, these crew members contributed to scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare humans for future space exploration missions and generate benefits for humanity back on Earth.”

Besides the science work and occasional spacewalk, the crewmates also witnessed a highly unusual event in December when a docked Soyuz spacecraft sprung a leak, putting the capsule out of action. The event prompted Russia to send up a replacement ride for the two Russian cosmonauts and a single NASA astronaut who used the now-damaged spacecraft to reach the ISS last September.

Crew-5’s departure will free up a little space aboard the station. Following Crew-6’s arrival at the end of last week, there have been 11 astronauts living and working on the facility. The usual number of inhabitants is around six.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
New ISS astronaut meets Bumble, Honey, and Queen robots
NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers aboard the ISS.

On her first visit to orbit, NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers has just introduced herself to three robots stationed aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

“We hit the ground running (or floating??) here on the space station,” Ayers, who arrived at the ISS just over a week ago, wrote in a post on X. “In addition to data collection for one of the studies, I got to help load some software onto the Astrobees. This is Bumble!”

Read more
NASA releases first pictures of Starliner astronauts after epic mission
Butch Wilmore just hours after returning to Earth.

NASA astronaut and Starliner crewmember Butch Wilmore just hours after returning to Earth. NASA

NASA has shared the first images of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams following their return from an epic nine-month space mission that was only supposed to have lasted eight days.

Read more
Watch these curious dolphins greet returning Crew-9 astronauts
Dolphins swim close to SpaceX's Crew-9 capsule shortly after splashdown on Tuesday, March 18.

A pod of curious dolphins showed up to greet the returning SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts shortly after they splashed down off the coast of Florida at about 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday, March 18.

The four-person crew included NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who ended up staying in orbit for way longer than originally planned.

Read more