SatNews

Satellite Industry Intelligence Since 1983

SpaceX’s Dragon successfully departs the ISS to return NASA’s Crew-7 astronauts back to Earth

Aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andy Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov prepared to depart the space station following the closing of the hatch to the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance on March 11 ahead of their undocking from the space station.

Monday, March 11 at 11:20 a.m. ET SpaceX and NASA witnessed the Dragon autonomously undocked from the International Space Station. After performing a series of departure burns to move away from the space station, Dragon conducted multiple orbit-lowering maneuvers, jettison the trunk, and will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere for splashdown off the coast of Florida almost 19 hours later at approximately 5:50 a.m. ET on Tuesday, March 12.

August 26, 2023 Crew-7 Mission

Aboard the spacecraft will be Crew-7 NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov, who flew to the space station on Dragon when Falcon 9 launched the spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, August 26.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov onboard, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA/Joel Kowsky

Crew-7 completed a 6-month science mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions as part of NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration approach, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.