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The Return of SpaceX’s Crew-7 Mission Astronauts
The four astronauts of SpaceX’s Crew-7 mission are scheduled to return to Earth early Tuesday morning. Crew-7’s Dragon capsule, named Endurance, successfully undocked from the International Space Station after a 6.5-month stay. The spacecraft is expected to splash down off the coast of Florida around 5:50 a.m. EDT.
You can witness the reentry and recovery activities live on NASA TV, streaming here on Space.com. Coverage will begin at 4:30 a.m. EDT.
The Crew-7 Mission Summary
Crew-7 comprises NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency, Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Konstantin Borisov, a cosmonaut with Russia’s Roscosmos. They launched to the ISS on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in August 2023.
This mission marked the first spaceflight for Moghbeli and Borisov, and the second for Mogensen and Furukawa. During their stay, the Crew-7 team briefly overlapped with the Crew-8 astronauts who arrived at the ISS last week.
SpaceX’s Crewed Missions to the ISS
SpaceX has conducted eight operational astronaut flights to the ISS for NASA, in addition to a crewed test flight. In 2014, NASA selected SpaceX for this task alongside Boeing. While Boeing has not yet flown astronauts for NASA, their Starliner capsule is scheduled to launch its first astronaut flight in May. This mission, known as Crew Flight Test, will transport two astronauts for a 10-day stay aboard the ISS.
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