NASA and SpaceX Crew-11 cleared to undock Wednesday for Dragon return

Mission managers have given the go for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 to undock Wednesday and return to Earth. NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov will depart the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX Dragon, scheduled to undock from the Harmony module’s space-facing port at 5:05 p.m.

EST on Wednesday. Cardman will command and Fincke will pilot Dragon, with Yui and Platonov serving as mission specialists. The crew spent Tuesday packing cargo, transferring hardware, reviewing return procedures and practicing deorbit procedures; Cardman trained to use respirators and moved emergency gear with assistance from NASA Flight Engineer Chris Williams, while Fincke and Yui uninstalled science hardware.

Weather is looking excellent for Dragon’s parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of California at 3:41 a.m. on Thursday. NASA+ will begin live coverage at 3 p.m. Wednesday when the crew enters Dragon and closes the hatch, return at 4:45 p.m. for undocking coverage, resume at 2:15 a.m.

Thursday for descent coverage and broadcast a post-splashdown news conference at 5:45 a.m. All activities can be viewed on NASA+, Amazon Prime and the agency’s YouTube channel.

Key Topics

Science, International Space Station, Spacex Dragon, Nasa, Jaxa, Roscosmos