Crew Dragon lands safely, despite one parachute inflating slowly [Updated]

11:30pm ET Monday replace: Crew Dragon Endeavour safely splashed down into the Northern Gulf of Mexico on Monday night, simply south of Pensacola, Florida. The water touchdown capped a profitable 199-day mission to the Worldwide House Station.

The spacecraft’s return to Earth appeared nominal up till 4 minutes earlier than splashdown, when the automobile’s fundamental parachutes deployed. Three of the 4 parachutes got here out nominally, however inflation of the fourth parachute was delayed by a fraction of a minute. Regardless of this, the commentators on the NASA-SpaceX livestream indicated that the fourth parachute’s inflation fee was regular, and the spacecraft’s descent velocity nominal.

The crew emerged from the spacecraft lower than an hour later, on board a restoration ship, no worse for put on. One other Crew Dragon spacecraft, carrying NASA’s Crew-3 mission, is ready to launch from Florida in lower than two days. It appears attainable that this mission may very well be delayed as a result of parachute challenge noticed Monday night time.

Authentic put up: NASA and SpaceX plan to return one Crew Dragon spacecraft from orbit on Monday night and launch one other two days later, on Wednesday night time.

The company’s crew flight plans have been in flux since simply earlier than Halloween, when climate issues after which a “minor medical challenge” with one of many 4 astronauts on the Crew-3 mission delayed the rocket’s launch from October 31 into November.

Since that point, NASA and SpaceX, which gives the Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 launch system, have been evaluating a number of points with a view to decide how greatest to launch the Crew-3 mission and return the 4 Crew-2 astronauts from the Worldwide House Station.

Among the many most important elements is the length of the Crew-2 mission, which launched on April 23, 2021. The Endeavour spacecraft has now been in house for 199 days, which is pretty near the automobile’s licensed mission size of 210 days.

This weekend, the company determined to push the touchdown of Crew-2 forward of the Crew-3 launch. NASA did so after assessing climate situations on the touchdown websites for Endeavour within the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean, in addition to launch web site climate for Crew-3. It additionally thought of situations alongside the ascent “hall” throughout the northern Atlantic Ocean, the place a restoration would have to be made within the case of an emergency throughout the mission’s launch.

On Monday morning, NASA launched its finalized plan for the sequence of occasions. Endeavour, carrying NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, JAXA astronaut Aki Hoshide, and European astronaut Thomas Pesquet, will undock from the Worldwide House Station at 2:05 pm ET (19:05 UTC) on Monday. After undocking, Endeavour will fly across the house station to {photograph} its exterior, partially to supply knowledge on the well being of the growing old station’s exterior.

Following this maneuver, Endeavour will start the method of slowing down and reentering Earth’s orbit. It’ll splash down off the coast of Florida at 10:33 pm ET Monday (03:33 UTC Tuesday). NASA has not but stated whether or not the automobile will land within the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean, as it’s nonetheless evaluating seven attainable places for the calmest seas.

Pesquet’s presence on the house station, particularly, will likely be missed. For the final six months, the Frenchman has been a constant supply of grade-A memes. From house.

It appears we is not going to cross paths with our #Crew3 colleagues on the House Station. Pity, it will have been a pleasure to clarify the finer factors of dwelling up right here 😉

🇫🇷 Quand tu bois ton café dans l’espace // Quand tu te souviens d’où vient l’eau pic.twitter.com/iPvKbvs7cZ

— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) November 7, 2021

As soon as Endeavour has landed and the crew safely returned to Kennedy House Middle, NASA and SpaceX will flip their consideration to the launch of Crew-3. It will require the fast repositioning of sea-based property, together with ships concerned in restoration operations.

Consequently, NASA is now concentrating on no sooner than 9:03 pm ET on Wednesday (02:03 UTC Thursday) for the launch of Crew-3 from Kennedy House Middle. 4 astronauts will fly aboard Crew Dragon Endurance—NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron, in addition to European astronaut Matthias Maurer. Climate situations look favorable for a Wednesday night time launch from Florida.

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Following this timeline, the Crew-3 mission ought to dock with the Worldwide House Station on Thursday, and the astronauts will spend the subsequent six months in orbit performing quite a lot of science and upkeep operations.