NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission astronauts return to Earth

A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying NASA Crew-5 mission astronauts undocked from the International Space Station today to make its way back to Earth.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule undocked from the International Space Station at 12.50 PM IST on Saturday, March 11. (Image credit: NASA TV)

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NASA yesterday announced that a SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft carrying astronauts who are part of the agency’s Crew-5 mission splashed down near Tampa off the coast of Florida at 7.34 AM IST on March 13.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft carried NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina. It undocked from the Harmony module at 2.20 AM EST (12.50 PM IST) today.

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The Crew-5 mission launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 5, 2022, and the spacecraft docked with the space station the next day.

Splashdown!#Crew5 is back on Earth, completing a science mission of nearly six months on the @Space_Station. Their @SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft touched down at 9:02pm ET (0202 UTC March 12) near Tampa off the coast of Florida. pic.twitter.com/nLMC0hbKY4

— NASA (@NASA) March 12, 2023

Apart from the four astronauts who returned on the Crew Dragon spacecraft, three astronauts are expected to ride home in a Soyuz spacecraft that rode empty to the space station. It replaces another Soyuz spacecraft that sprang a coolant leak when it was docked to the space station.

The Crew-6 mission launched in a similar fashion from the Kennedy Space Center on March 2, carrying NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, and UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi. The crew-6 mission docked with the International Space Station the very next day.