March 12 (UPI) — SpaceX’s Crew-7 returned to Earth safely Tuesday morning, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Fla.
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, the European Space Agency’s Andreas Mogensen, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Satoshi Furukawa and Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov splashed down at 5:47 a.m. EDT.
The parachute system on the Dragon worked to perfection with all four deploying at about 18,000 feet as the spacecraft fell back to the Earth. A recovery ship with a fast boat team completed the work to pluck the capsule out of the water onto the main deck of the ship.
Splashdown of Dragon confirmed – welcome back to Earth, @AstroJaws, @Astro_Andreas, @Astro_Satoshi, and Kostya! pic.twitter.com/iugZ6Awwvn— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 12, 2024
The astronauts underwent initial medical checks before taking a helicopter trip for a plane to Houston at the Johnson Space Center.
The crew left the International Space Station in the Dragon Space capsule Monday morning.
After undocking from the ISS, the Dragon completed a deorbiting burn, where it flew over southwest Nebraska, Kansas, northeastern Oklahoma, central Arkansas and northeastern Texas and then across Mississippi and Alabama on its way to the Gulf of Mexico.
With the Crew-7’s return, Crew-8 has control of the space station: NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, along with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin.
