SpaceX Crew-1 Set To Bring US Astronauts From ISS Back To Earth In Late April - NASA

NASA has announced the return of the SpaceX Crew-1 mission with US astronauts aboard from the International Space Station (ISS) on April 28 at the earliest

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th March, 2021) NASA has announced the return of the SpaceX Crew-1 mission with US astronauts aboard from the International Space Station (ISS) on April 28 at the earliest.

The mission, the first ever operational commercial crew mission to the ISS, was launched last November to take US astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, as well as Soichi Noguchi from Japan to the ISS, for a six-month stay. The mission's return will mark the first time that that the SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship will bring astronauts home.

"[NASA and SpaceX] Mission teams ... are targeting the return of the Crew-1 astronauts on Wednesday, April 28, with undocking about 5 a.m. [EDT, 01:00 GMT] and splashdown approximately 12:35 p.m. off the coast of Florida," NASA said in a statement late on Monday.

The agency also said that NASA and SpaceX specialists continued to prepare for the launch of the Crew-2 mission to the ISS, which should take place no earlier than April 22.