Crew 3 Successfully Departs ISS On DragonX Return Flight To Earth

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th May, 2022) The departing four astronauts of DragonX Crew 3 successfully began their return to earth from the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, SpaceX officials said in a podcast.

"The Crew Dragon Endurance has undocked from the international space station," a SpaceX commentator said during the podcast of the event. "Four astronauts aboard the orbital outpost completing their six-month mission."

SpaceX confirmed in a statement after the event the timing of the undocking and the next steps.

"On Thursday, May 5 at 1:20 a.m. ET (5:20 a.m. GMT), Dragon and the Crew-3 astronauts autonomously undocked from the International Space Station to return to Earth," SpaceX said.

"After performing a series of departure burns to move away from the space station, Dragon will conduct multiple orbit-lowering maneuvers, jettison its trunk, and re-enter Earth's atmosphere for splashdown off the coast of Florida approximately 23.5 hours later on Friday, May 6 at 12:43 a.m. ET."

Commander Tom Marshburn with his NASA crew mates Raja Chari, Kayla Barron and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer from Germany, were aboard the spacecraft, ending a mission that began in November 2021.