4 space station astronauts returned to Earth late Saturday after a fast SpaceX flight residence.
Their capsule splashed down within the Gulf of Mexico simply off the Florida coast close to Tampa.
The U.S.-Russian-Japanese crew spent 5 months on the Worldwide Area Station, arriving last October. In addition to dodging space junk, the astronauts needed to take care of a pair of leaking Russian capsules docked to the orbiting outpost and the urgent delivery of a replacement craft for the station’s different crew members.
Led by NASA’s Nicole Mann, the primary Native American girl to fly in space, the astronauts checked out of the station early Saturday morning. Lower than 19 hours later, their Dragon capsule was bobbing within the sea as they awaited pickup.
Earlier within the week, high wind and waves within the splashdown zones saved them on the station a couple of further days. Their replacements arrived greater than per week in the past.
“That was one heck of a journey,” Mann radioed moments after splashdown. “We’re completely satisfied to be residence.”
Mann, a member of Northern California’s Wailacki of the Spherical Valley Indian Tribes, stated she could not wait to really feel the wind on her face, scent recent grass and luxuriate in some scrumptious Earth meals.
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The SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft is seen because it lands with NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan Aerospace Exploration Company (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina onboard within the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa, Fla, Saturday, March 11, 2023. The group are returning after a five-month mission within the Worldwide Area Station. Credit score: Keegan Barber/NASA by way of AP
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On this picture from video made accessible by NASA, a SpaceX capsule, slowed by parachutes, approaches the floor of the waters of the Gulf of Mexico off Tampa, Fla., because it returns to Earth with Expedition 68 Flight Engineers Anna Kikina of Roscosmos, Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann from NASA, and Koichi Wakata of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Company) after a five-month mission within the Worldwide Area Station, on Saturday, March 11, 2023. Credit score: NASA by way of AP
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SpaceX astronauts, from row from left, Josh Cassada, Nicole Mann, second row from left, Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Company astronaut Koichi Wakata depart the Operations and Checkout constructing earlier than heading to Launch Pad 39-A on the Kennedy Area Middle in Cape Canaveral, Fla., for a mission to the Worldwide Area Station Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. The 4 are scheduled to return to Earth on Sunday, March 12, 2023, after 5 months on the Worldwide Area Station. Credit score: AP Photograph/John Raoux, File
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On this photograph made accessible by NASA, clockwise from left, Expedition 68 Flight Engineers Anna Kikina of Roscosmos, Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann from NASA, and Koichi Wakata of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Company) collect for a portrait contained in the Worldwide Area Station’s Kibo laboratory module on March 1, 2023. The 4 are scheduled to return to Earth on Sunday, March 12 after 5 months on the Worldwide Area Station. Credit score: NASA by way of AP
Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata craved sushi, whereas Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina yearned to drink scorching tea “from actual cup, not from plastic bag.”
NASA astronaut Josh Cassada’s to-do checklist included getting a rescue canine for his household. “Please do not inform our two cats,” he joked earlier than departing the space station.
Remaining behind on the space station are three People, three Russians and one from the United Arab Emirates.
Wakata, Japan’s spaceflight champion, now has logged greater than 500 days in space over 5 missions relationship again to NASA’s shuttle period.
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