The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule dubbed Freedom, carrying three US NASA astronauts and an Italian crewmate from the European Space Agency, parachuted into the sea at the conclusion of a five-hour autonomous flight home from the ISS.
In less than an hour, recovery teams had hoisted the heat-scorched Crew Dragon onto a retrieval vessel before opening the capsule’s side hatch and helping the four astronauts out by one for their first breath of fresh air in more than 24 weeks. Each of the returning astronauts was to receive a routine medical checkup aboard the ship before being flown by helicopter back to Florida.The return from orbit followed a fiery re-entry plunge through Earth’s atmosphere generating frictional heat that sent temperatures outside the capsule soaring to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit .
The team was designated “Crew-4,” the fourth full-fledged long-duration group of astronauts launched to ISS by SpaceX since the private rocket company founded by Tesla Inc CEO Elton Musk began flying NASA personnel in May 2020. They also participated in studies of fire and fuel behavior in weightlessness, and cultivation of plants in liquid- and air-based growth materials in place of soil.
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