Oct. 23 (UPI) — Four SpaceX Crew-8 members climbed aboard Crew Dragon Endeavour on Wednesday, closed the hatch and successfully undocked from the International Space Station to begin their 34-hour journey back to Earth. The trip home follows weather delays, scheduling conflicts and more than seven months in space.
The three NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barrett and Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Grebenkin, are expected to splashdown early Friday morning, at approximately 3:29 a.m EDT, off the coast of Florida.
“Endeavour departing,” one crew member said, as the spacecraft undocked at 5:05 p.m. EDT. “Goodbye Dragon. The circle will never be complete without you.”
“Dragon departing the Space Station after undocking at 5:05 p.m. EDT,” SpaceX wrote Wednesday in a post on X, along with video of the departure from ISS.
Dragon’s departure from orbit on ISS and return to Earth is fully autonomous, which requires no action from the crew onboard. It took approximately five minutes for the spacecraft to undock.
“NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission is ready for the journey home,” NASA wrote earlier in a post on X, along with a video of the crew’s preparations. “Watch as the Space Station crew closes the hatch of the Dragon spacecraft.”
Views from inside the spacecraft showed the astronauts strapped into their seats, wearing spacesuits and gloves.
“The SpaceX Crew-8 members have closed Dragon’s hatch and are preparing to depart the space station at 5:05 p.m. EDT today,” the International Space Station wrote in a post on X shortly before the spacecraft departed.
Crew-8 launched to ISS on March 4 and successfully docked more than 24 hours later. The crew’s return has been delayed by severe weather around Florida and scheduling conflicts, following the arrival and subsequent problems with Boeing’s Starliner.
Endeavour had to be reconfigured to provide two makeshift seats for Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams in the event the ISS crew needed to evacuate.
Wilmore and Williams launched June 5 and were supposed to spend less than two weeks at the ISS, but problems with Starliner forced its return without them. The astronauts are expected to return in 2025 with Crew-9.
Weather around Florida also caused delays for Crew-8 as Hurricanes Helene and Milton made it too dangerous, until now, for a splashdown.
