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The crew of Axiom Space’s Ax-3 mission splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean this morning, capping their three-week journey to the International Space Station (ISS) with a safe return.
A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying the four astronauts hurtled through our planet’s atmosphere at speeds reaching 17,500 miles per hour, eventually parachuting down to rest in calm waters off the coast of Daytona, Florida. .
Air speeds of this magnitude create massive amounts of friction, which is converted to heat, testing the limits of the capsule’s heat shields with temperatures estimated at 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit, according to SpaceX.
The landing of the Dragon capsule just before 8:30 a.m. EST marked the end of Axiom’s third mission into low-Earth orbit.
SpaceX’s Dragon Crew capsule bobbed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Daytona, Florida, after splashing down. Its surface was scorched by the immense heat created during re-entry.
The astronauts jettisoned the Dragon’s trunk at 7:37 a.m. EST, shedding the expendable section located just below the crew compartment.
By 7:55, they had completed a deorbitation process, removing the capsule from Earth’s orbit and setting it on its reentry path.
Once the capsule entered the atmosphere, its friction against the surrounding air created a plasma “envelope” around the craft. This temporarily disrupted communication with ground control, a routine part of landing spacecraft.
The capsule re-entered Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean, west of Mexico. It flew over the Yucatan Peninsula and Florida before landing in the Atlantic Ocean around 8:30 a.m. EST.
At approximately 8:25, the astronauts rotated their seats so that they were sitting upright as the capsule fell to Earth, rather than looking up, as they do during launch.
Minutes later, the parachutes deployed and the ship descended toward the ocean.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule splashed down shortly before 8:30 a.m. EST on Friday. Shortly afterward it was loaded onto a recovery ship.
Ax-3, which launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 18, was SpaceX’s first trip with an all-European crew.
Michael López-Alegría, 65, was the commander of Ax-3. He is a former NASA astronaut and holds dual Spanish-American citizenship.
He was joined by Swedish airman Marcus Wandt, 43, another mission specialist, Alper Gezeravci, 44, and Italian Air Force Colonel Walter Villadei, 49.
Walter Villadei is from Italy, Alper Gezeravcı has become Turkey’s first astronaut and Swede Marcus Wandt is also on board.
The Ax-3 crew gave the all-clear after falling safely into the ocean while being placed aboard a recovery ship.
While aboard the ISS, they participated in several experiments aimed at the future of long-term human space travel.
These experiments included testing a muscle monitoring and stimulation suit, testing the stress responses of gene-edited plants grown in microgravity, tracking bone density in microgravity, and monitoring the sleep patterns of astronauts in space.
Depending on the weather, the capsule could have landed at multiple splashdown sites in the ocean.
To prepare, SpaceX had stationed recovery vessels on both sides of the state, in both the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
“Spreading the supported sites across multiple locations helps maximize return opportunities for this mission for future crews, reducing the chance that we will have to abandon due to bad weather,” Jessie Anderson, SpaceX’s production and engineering manager, said in a statement. live broadcast of the re-entry.