A crew of four astronauts, including a Russian, left the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday to return to the United States at the end of a six-month mission on the orbital outpost, reports AFP, quoted by Agerpres.
Crew-7. PHOTO BLOG.NASA.GOV
The four astronauts arrived at the ISS at the end of August aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule to participate in a routine NASA mission called “Crew-7“.
The mission, led by American astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, includes the Danish Andreas Mogensen, the Japanese Satoshi Furukawa and the Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Borissov.
Jasmin Moghbeli, who was on his first mission in space, welcomed on Sunday, in his departure speech, the international cooperation that allowed, after the end of the Cold War in the 1990s, the installation of the ISS.
“It's proof of what we can achieve when we work together.”she said.
Collaboration between the American and Russian space agencies continues on the ISS
Despite diplomatic tensions between Washington and Moscow since the start of the war in Ukraine, collaboration between the American and Russian space agencies continues on the ISS – one of the few areas of cooperation that has been maintained between the two states.
On Tuesday morning, starting at 09:35 GMT, the four astronauts are expected to land near the coast of Florida.
During the six months spent in space, the crew conducted scientific experiments, studying for example how microgravity, which accelerates the aging process, affects liver regeneration.
NASA pays SpaceX for this service
“Crew-7” was the seventh ISS crew rotation mission carried out by SpaceX, the company owned by billionaire Elon Musk, for NASA. “Crew-8”, who took over the baton, arrived on March 5 on the ISS.
NASA pays SpaceX for this service, which has allowed it to reduce its reliance on Russia and send crews to the International Space Station after the US space shuttle program ended in 2011.
