SpaceX’s Dragon Endurance spacecraft carrying Nasa astronauts Kayla Barron, Raja Chari and Tom Marshburn, as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer, splashed down safely early Friday morning in the Gulf. from Mexico off the coast of Tampa, Florida, following 177 days in space.
Crews from the Shannon recovery ship, including two fast boats, are now in the process of securing Dragon and ensuring the spacecraft is safe for the recovery effort. As the fast boat crews complete their work, the recovery ship will move into position to hoist Dragon onto Shannon’s main deck with the astronauts inside. Once on the main deck, the crew will be taken off the spacecraft and given medical checks before a helicopter ride to board a plane to Houston.
NASA and SpaceX’s Crew-3 mission launched on Nov. 10 on a Falcon 9 rocket from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and docked with the space station on Nov. 11. Before their return, the Crew-3 astronauts shared farewell remarks and the station commander, NASA’s Tom Marshburn handed over command of the station to Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev.
The Dragon spacecraft, named Endurance by the crew, has autonomously undocked, departed from the International Space Station (ISS) and is bringing important and urgent research back to Earth.
