The Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying the crew of Axiom Space’s Axiom-3 commercial mission returned to Earth from the International Space Station after almost three weeks. This was reported by the media.
The publication notes that at about 8:20 a.m. US East Coast time, the ship entered the dense layers of the atmosphere, and a few minutes later, at an altitude of about 5.5 km, its parachutes were released. At 8:30 a.m. (16:30 Kyiv time), it was confirmed that the ship had grounded in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean near the US state of Florida.
Prior to that, the undocking of the Crew Dragon spacecraft with a commercial crew from the International Space Station was postponed for the second time.
On February 3, SpaceX announced that Crew Dragon with a commercial crew will undock from the International Space Station and return to Earth no earlier than February 5 due to unfavorable conditions for entering the dense layers of the atmosphere. Prior to that, the undocking was scheduled for February 3.
The Ax-3 mission, which included Italian citizen Walter Villadei, Markus Wandt from Sweden, and the first astronaut from Turkey, military pilot Alper Gözeravci, launched to the ISS on January 19. The crew captain is Michael Lopez-Alegria, an experienced NASA astronaut and Axiom employee.
