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The astronauts of the Inspiration4 mission, four lay astronauts orbiting in a SpaceX capsule, are expected to return to Earth at 7:06 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday.
While some spacecraft lands on the ground, Crew Dragon lands on water, similar to the method NASA astronauts used to return to Earth during the Apollo, Gemini, and Mercury eras. Jumps occur off the coast of Florida, either in the Gulf of Mexico or in the Atlantic Ocean – SpaceX He chose the Atlantic for this mission. Two NASA missions returning crews from the International Space Station landed safely, one at night last year.
As the Inspiration4 mission is considerably higher than previous Crew Dragon missions, altitude will begin to drop from 360 miles to about 225 miles tonight to better position itself for re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
On Saturday, shortly before preparing for landing, the vehicle will launch the part of the spacecraft that SpaceX calls the “fuselage” – the cylindrical chamber beneath the gumdrop-shaped capsule. The trunk will burn in the atmosphere.
The capsule will then begin firing its thrusters to exit orbit. When it’s low enough in Earth’s atmosphere, the parachutes will open to slowly launch the capsule.
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