FLORIDA — The Ax-3 crew of Axiom Space will remain onboard the International Space Station as their return to Earth is delayed once again due to weather concerns.
Key Points:
– SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will bring the Ax-3 crew back to Earth
– The current plan is for the splashdown to occur on Tuesday, with no specific time announced yet
On Saturday night, SpaceX announced that the weather had again caused a delay in the splashdown of the Ax-3 crew, with the new target now set for no earlier than Tuesday, Feb. 5, for their return home.
Originally, Axiom Space’s Cmdr. Michael López-Alegría, pilot Walter Villadei, and mission specialists Alper Gezeravcı and Marcus Wandt were scheduled to undock from the International Space Station on Saturday morning after a two-week stay. However, the four men will have to remain guests a little longer due to weather concerns, as announced by SpaceX and NASA.
Due to unfavorable recovery conditions off the coast of Florida, the team is now aiming for Dragon and the Ax-3 crew to undock from the @space_station no earlier than Monday, February 5. Teams will continue to monitor weather conditions for the next undocking opportunity.
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 3, 2024
Initially targeting Monday for the return trip, officials then announced on Saturday night that they are aiming for Tuesday.
“NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than Tuesday, Feb. 6, for the undocking of Axiom Mission 3 from the International Space Station,” stated NASA.
A new weather review is set to take place at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday to finalize the details, including the undocking time.
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft called Freedom will undock from the ISS’s Harmony module and take about a 13-hour commute back to Earth, where it will splash down off the coast of Florida.
“After performing a series of burns to move away from the space station, Dragon will conduct multiple orbit-lowering maneuvers, jettison its trunk, and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere before splashing down off the coast of Florida,” SpaceX explained.
The return journey to Earth will be an intense experience. Drawing from previous splashdowns, the process will involve a series of parachute deployments to slow the spacecraft from an orbital speed of about 17,500 mph (2,816 kph) to 350 mph (482 kph) when it enters the atmosphere.
The Freedom will then gently splash down at 16 mph (25 kph) off the coast of Florida.
The Start of the Ax-3 Mission
The Falcon 9 rocket, which carried the Freedom spacecraft with its four passengers to join the seven-member Expedition 70 crew at the ISS, departed from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024.
Axiom Space, a private space company based in Texas, has conducted a total of three crewed missions to the ISS. The latest mission, Ax-3, brought over 30 experiments from other companies and universities to be tested.
On the day of the launch, Axiom Space President Matt Ondler told Spectrum News that commercial space travel offers countries, businesses, and universities the opportunity to venture beyond Earth.
“We believe this is likely the future, as countries are keen to partake in space exploration, and many have not had the chance to do so through the ISS. We are truly providing this opportunity to countries,” he said.
