Cape Canaveral - Tuesday March 12, 2024: Four astronauts from four countries in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft splashed down safely in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola early this morning, ending their half-year mission at the International Space Station.
The NASA SpaceX Crew-7 completed the agency’s seventh commercial crew rotation mission to the International Space Station. They Crew-7 un-docked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 11:20 a.m. Monday to begin the trip home.
Aboard were NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov. The international crew of four spent 199 days in orbit.
“After more than six months aboard the International Space Station, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 has safely returned home,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “This international crew showed that space unites us all. It’s clear that we can do more – we can learn more – when we work together. The science experiments conducted during their time in space will help prepare for NASA’s bold missions at the Moon, Mars, and beyond, all while benefiting humanity here on Earth.”
The Crew-7 mission lifted off from the Cape Aug. 26, 2023, on a Falcon 9 rocket. About 30 hours later, their Dragon capsule docked with the Harmony module’s space-facing port.
Moghbeli, Mogensen, Furukawa, and Borisov traveled 84,434,094 miles during their mission, spent 197 days aboard the space station, and completed 3,184 orbits around Earth. The Crew-7 mission was the first spaceflight for Moghbeli and Borisov. Mogensen has logged 209 days in space over his two flights, and Furukawa has logged 366 days in space over his two flights.
Throughout their mission, the Crew-7 members contributed to a host of science and maintenance activities and technology demonstrations. Moghbeli conducted one spacewalk, joined by NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, replacing one of the 12 trundle bearing assemblies on the port solar alpha rotary joint, which allows the arrays to track the Sun and generate electricity to power the station
The Crew-7 flight is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and its return to Earth follows on the heels of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 launch, which docked to the station March 5, beginning another science expedition.
The goal of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station and low Earth orbit. This already is providing additional research time and has increased the opportunity for discovery aboard humanity’s microgravity test bed for exploration, including helping NASA prepare for human exploration of the Moon and Mars.
Learn more about NASA’s Commercial Crew program at: https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew.