NASA
After 170 days in space, four astronauts crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Friday, ending a successful NASA-SpaceX mission to the International Space Station.
After two days of weather delay, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Freedom returned to Earth off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, under clear blue skies and mild seas. The spacecraft’s descent through Earth’s atmosphere appeared to be nominal, with two drogue parachutes deployed on schedule, followed by four clean main parachutes, allowing Dragon to splash down at about 15 miles per hour.
“SpaceX, from Freedomthanks for an incredible ride to orbit and an incredible ride home,” said Kjell Lindgren, NASA’s spacecraft commander, after landing.
Lindgren led a mission with NASA astronauts Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins, as well as European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. On landing, the spacecraft was met by two SpaceX “fast boats” that held the delicious-looking vehicle before it was brought aboard. Megan salvage ship, named after Megan McArthur, an astronaut aboard a previous SpaceX flight.
This mission, Crew-4, was the fourth operational mission flown by SpaceX for NASA. Earlier this month, the Crew-5 mission launched four astronauts to the space station, where they will remain for about six months. Including a first demonstration mission in 2020 and two private spaceflights – Inspiration4 and Axiom-1 – Crew Dragon has now put 30 people into orbit.
In just over two years, SpaceX has surpassed the total number of astronauts launched into orbit by China, whose manned spaceflight program dates back to 2003; and during the time Crew Dragon was operational, it even surpassed the Russian Soyuz vehicle in terms of the total number of people flown into space during that period.
Over the past two years, Dragon had a few flaws, including an intermittently problematic toilet and a lagging parachute on one flight, but NASA officials were extremely pleased with the vehicle’s performance. It has safely restored the United States’ capacity for manned spaceflight, which had been lost since the retirement of the space shuttle. Had Dragon not been available, NASA would have been in the awkward position of relying on Russia to transport its crew during the Ukraine war.
Crew-5 was the last launch of 2022 for SpaceX’s Dragon vehicle, but two missions are expected in the first quarter of 2023. Crew 6’s launch is scheduled for February, led by NASA astronaut Steve Bowen alongside pilot Warren Hoburg. In addition, there will be two mission specialists, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev and United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi.
Then, as early as March, entrepreneur Jared Isaacman will fly his second Dragon-free flyer mission, Polaris Dawn, with the goal of conducting the world’s first private EVA and conducting research to advance human spaceflight. Next to him are pilot Scott Poteet and two mission specialists, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, who work for SpaceX. They will be the first employees of the company to fly with Dragon in space.
