From left to right, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthais Maurer, NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn, Raja Chari, and Kayla Barron, are seen inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft onboard the SpaceX Shannon recovery ship shortly after having landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa, Florida, Friday, May 6, 2022. Maurer, Marshburn, Chari, and Barron are returning after 177 days in space as part of Expeditions 66 and 67 aboard the International Space Station.
SpaceX's Crew-3 astronauts have successfully returned to Earth!
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently announced that SpaceX's four astronauts have safely splashed down on May 6 off the coast of Florida following a delay in their departure due to unstable weather conditions.
Crew-3's departure date was previously scheduled to return to Earth on May 5.
SpaceX Crew-3 Successful Return
According to NASA's report, NASA astronauts Kayla Barron, Raja Chari, and Tom Marshburn, along with European Space Agency's astronaut, Matthias Maurer, have successfully and safely splashed down off the coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico on May 6, at 12:43 a.m. EDT.
The four astronauts boarded the SpaceX Crew Dragon "Endurance" spacecraft for departure from the ISS on May 5 at 1:05 a.m., with the Endurance's undocking from the forward-facing port of the ISS' Harmony node at 1:20 a.m. EDT. After some time, the Dragon "Endurance" spacecraft opened its parachutes at 12:43 a.m. EDT to execute a parachute-assisted splashdown on the coast of Florida.
Crew-3 left behind NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, and Jessica Watkins; Roscomos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveed, and Sergey Korsakov; and ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, per Space.com.
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Crew-3's return to Earth is the conclusion of its six-month stay in the ISS. It also finalizes a succession of three closely scheduled SpaceX flight events, starting with Endeavour's splashdown with Ax-1, the first private crew to visit the ISS on April 25. Meanwhile, Crew-2 went to the ISS aboard the Dragon "Freedom" on April 27.
The next astronauts to launch or land on a SpaceX spacecraft are not scheduled until later in September.
Meanwhile, the Dragon "Endurance" will return to Florida for inspection and processing at SpaceX's Dragon Lair.
Crew-3's Activities during their Stay In The ISS
The four astronauts went sent to the International Space Station (ISS) on November 10 to perform "new and interesting" scientific research in various fields like materials science, health technologies, and plant science.
NASA, in a separate post, said that the tests conducted in the ISS allow the astronauts to prepare for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and benefit life on Earth.
During Crew-3's six-month stay in the ISS, they contributed to a handful of scientific and maintenance activities and technology demonstrations, including conducting three spacewalks to perform station maintenance and upgrades outside the space station.
The spacewalks increased Marshburn's spacewalk tally to five, while Chari and Barron completed two, with Maurer doing one. Barron described his spacewalk as "a spectacular experience," saying that he can't wait to contribute going forward to all the operations NASA is doing alongside its international partners with the return to the moon as part of the Artemis missions.
Aside from ISS maintenance duties, Crew-3 members also built on previous work investigating how fibers grow in microgravity and using hydroponic and aeroponic techniques to grow plants without soil or other growth material. They also captured images of their retinas to investigate if there are changes in the eyes of astronauts in space that can be detected automatically in the future.
Related Article: SpaceX Crew-3 Mission's Return to Earth Delayed to Friday Morning
