ISTANBUL, 8th February, 2024 (WAM) – A space capsule carrying Turkish, Spanish, Italian, and Swedish astronauts on Wednesday undocked from the International Space Station (ISS), freeing the ship to make its way back to Earth, Andolu Agency reported.
Before it undocked at 9:20 am Eastern Time (1420GMT), the hatch of the SpaceX Dragon capsule closed at 7:25 am ET (1225GMT), safely sealing in the four-person Axiom-3 Mission crew, who have spent over two weeks in Earth orbit.
The return process is expected to take around 47 hours, concluding on Friday morning, Eastern Time in the US.
The mission was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on 19th January on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Ax-3 astronauts Michael López-Alegría, Walter Villadei, Marcus Wandt, and Alper Gezeravci will complete 18 days aboard the orbiting laboratory at the conclusion of their mission. The SpaceX Dragon will return to Earth with more than 550 pounds of science and supplies, including NASA experiments and hardware.