DUBAI: Emirati astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and the rest of the Crew-6 mission, NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg and Rocosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, have returned to Earth after a six-month stay on the International Space Station (ISS).
NASA and SpaceX teams issued a ‘Go’ for Crew-6 earlier on Sunday to detach from the space station after earlier plans were thwarted by inclement weather on Earth. Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the Atlantic off the coast of Florida early Monday morning.
“Splashdown of Dragon confirmed – welcome back to Earth Steve, @Astro_Woody, Andrey and @Astro_Alneyadi!” SpaceX posted on X’s social network account.
Before departing the space station, they said they had been craving hot showers, steaming cups of coffee and ocean air since their arrival in March. Their return home was delayed a day due to bad weather at the splashdown locations. Over a week ago, SpaceX launched their replacements.
Another crew change will take place later this month with the long-awaited return of two Russians and one American who have been there all year. Their stay was doubled after their Soyuz capsule leaked all its coolant and a new craft had to be launched.
Between crew changes, the space station is home to seven astronauts.
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC) announced on Saturday morning that AlNeyadi’s planned return from the ISS had been delayed due to adverse weather conditions.
AlNeyadi, the first Arab astronaut deployed on a long-duration space mission and the first to complete a spacewalk, will undergo several days of medical tests, evaluations and mission debriefings in the US before returning home to the UAE.
