The team of four astronauts who were on a science mission for NASA is on their way back to earth. This team of astronauts left the orbiting camp early on Thursday. In this mission, the 4 crew members are 3 astronauts from US and one from the Germany.
International Space Station (ISS):
International Space Station is a multinational collaborative project of five space agencies named, NASA, ESA, CSA, Roscosmos, and JAXA. It’s first component was launched in 1998. It is at an height of 408 Km.
SpaceX
SpaceX means Space Exploration Technologies Corporation is an American aerospace Manufacturer. It was founded on 14th March 2002 by Elon Musk. Its headquarter is situated in Hawthorne, California, USA. It provide services for space transportation and communication. The purpose of SpaceX is revolutionizing the aerospace industry.
Team members
NASA SpaceX Crew- 3 mission is the third crew flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket. This team of four astronauts includes American astronauts Tom Marshburn aged 61, Raja Chari aged 44 and Kayla Barron, 34, along with ESA crewmate Matthias Maurer, 52. The team arrived at the space station on 11th November. It is the first spaceflight for Chari, Barron and Maurer while for Marshburn this is the third spaceflight who previously served as a crew member of the space shuttle STS-127 mission in 2009 and Expedition 34/35 aboard the space station, which concluded in 2013.
This mission was launched by SpaceX to the International Space Station for NASA. All the team members safely departed the orbit on Thursday at 0520 GMT to begin their descent back to the earth. Their return flight will be expected to last for approximately 23 hours. Before the departure of this crew, a replacement team from Russia aboard the space station.
If all goes well, it is expected that the crew dragon craft will reach at 12:43 a.m. EDT on Friday (0443 GMT). Lets wish best for the crew members and the mission.