Clockwise from left, Expedition 68 Flight Engineers Anna Kikina, Josh Cassada, Nicole Mann, and Koichi Wakata pose for a fun portrait aboard the station. The quartet is planning on returning to Earth this month.
Watch live coverage now on NASA TV, the NASA app and the agency’s website as hatch closure and undocking preparations are underway for the return of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission.
NASA astronauts Mission Commander Nicole Mann and Pilot Josh Cassada, along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina, who will serve as mission specialists, are in the process of boarding the Dragon for departure from the International Space Station.
Crew-5 is targeting a return to Earth at about 9:02 p.m. EST Saturday, March 11, with a splashdown off the coast of Florida. The Dragon spacecraft, named Endurance, is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station at 2:05 a.m. to begin the journey home.
Dragon will autonomously undock, depart the space station, and splash down at one of seven targeted landing zones in the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida. Endurance also will return important and time-sensitive research to Earth.
Light Duty on Station Before Foursome Departs on Saturday
The 11-member crew aboard the International Space Station give thumbs up signs in this portrait from March 6, 2023. In the bottom row from left are Flight Engineers Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos, Sultan Alneyadi from UAE (United Arab Emirates), and Woody Hoburg from NASA. In the middle row from left are Flight Engineers Anna Kikina from Roscosmos, Koichi Wakata from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Nicole Mann from NASA, Dmitri Petelin from Roscosmos, and Frank Rubio from NASA. In the back are Flight Engineer Stephen Bowen from NASA, Commander Sergey Prokopyev from Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Josh Cassada from NASA.
It was a relaxed Friday aboard the International Space Station as crew swap activities begin winding down ahead of the return to Earth of four crew members on Saturday. Three cosmonauts remained busy at the end of the week, however, working on orbital household maintenance tasks.
Expedition 68 Flight Engineers Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada of NASA, Koichi Wakata of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and Anna Kikina of Roscosmos are in their final full day aboard the space station. The quartet had a light duty day getting in a final exercise session before going to sleep early to prepare for their overnight departure activities.
The foursome will enter the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance and close the hatch to the vehicle at 12:15 a.m. EST on Saturday. Then at 2:05 a.m. they will undock from the Harmony module’s forward port. Endurance will fire its main engines one last time at 8:25 p.m. on Saturday sending the crew back into the Earth’s atmosphere. Finally, the crew will splashdown off the coast of Florida at 9:19 p.m. where support personnel from NASA and SpaceX will greet them after a five-month space research mission. NASA TV, on the agency’s app and website, will broadcast the crew return activities live.
The orbiting lab’s four newest crewmates have completed their first week of station orientation and familiarization tasks. New Flight Engineers Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg from NASA, Sultan Alneyadi of UAE (United Arab Emirates) and Andrey Fedyaev docked to the station aboard the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour on Oct. 3. All but Fedyaev had the day off as they will get up early and support their departing four crewmates when they enter the Crew Dragon Endurance and undock from the station.
Flight Engineer Frank Rubio, who has been aboard the station since Sept. 21, also had a light duty day spending just over an hour on the Food Physiology study before going to bed early with his departing crewmates. Rubio will be assisting the homebound crew before their Saturday departure.
Cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, station commander and flight engineer respectively, spent Friday working their normal shift servicing a variety of station electronics hardware. Fedyaev spent his day troubleshooting power supply systems and cleaning ventilation fans and filters.
NASA Names University Teams to Take on Aeronautics Research Challenges
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NASA’s State Fact Sheets Highlight Economic Impact in All 50 States, DC
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