SpaceX Crew-5 astronauts plan to leave the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday night, completing a five-month stay in orbit. The current plan provides that NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, as well as Japanese Koichi Wakata and Russian Anna Kikina will undock from the space station aboard their Crew Dragon spacecraft and return to Earth on March 10.
NASA and SpaceX initially planned to undock Crew Dragon on Thursday morning, but strong winds at the landing site forced the mission team to postpone the departure. The space agency announced that although it was now targeting the night from Thursday to Friday, it was continuing to assess weather conditions, so delays could be expected with the return of the team Crew-5.
Best moments on the ISS in 154 days
The Space Agency shared a short video showing some moments of the Crew-5 team being on board the space laboratory over the past 154 days.
“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,” NASA commented.
The flight of Crew-5 would free up some space on board the station, since upon the arrival of Crew-6 at the end of last week, it became crowded on the ISS – there were 11 astronauts with the recommended number of six to eight people.
In addition to scientific work and occasional spacewalks, crew members also witnessed an emergency in December, when a leak occurred in the docked Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, which put part of the crew at risk and made them “hostages” on the ISS. This event prompted Russia to send the Soyuz MS-23 rescue spacecraft to pick up Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut.
Earlier, we reported on how SpaceX was suspending the production of Crew Dragon spacecraft.
According to NASA
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