Dragon Freedom undocked from the space station at 1:05 a.m. EDT (1705 UTC) on Tuesday to begin its roughly 17-hour trip to splash down along Florida’s Gulf Coast. The parachute-supported splash down happened at 5:57 p.m. EDT (2157 UTC).
SpaceX launched a reduced two-man crew on a flight to the International Space Station Saturday, along with supplies and a pair of empty seats for two Starliner astronauts waiting to hitch a ride home in February after an unexpected eight-and-a-half-month stay in orbit.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexandr Gorbunov walked through a launch day simulation as NASA and SpaceX prepared to conduct a static fire test of the Falcon 9 rocket. Ignition happened at 10:05 p.m. EDT (0205 UTC).
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexandr Gorbunov arrived in Florida on Saturday afternoon ahead of their final launch preparations. A flight readiness review occurred on Monday, Sept. 23.