SpaceX to bring back NASA Crew-3 astronauts on May 5; change of ISS command begins

Astronauts of the Crew-3 mission will have to wait for a couple more days before landing on Earth. Their departure from the International Space Station (ISS) has been pushed from May 3 to May 5 with the undocking scheduled at 10:35 am (IST). Three NASA astronauts - Raja Chari, Thomas Mashburn, and Kayla Barron - and one European astronaut Matthias Maurer will make their return on a SpaceX Dragon capsule after spending six months in space. 

In a tweet, NASA human spaceflight chief Kathy Lueders informed that NASA and SpaceX teams have scheduled the undocking of the Dragon spacecraft from the ISS at 10:35 am on May 5. Moreover, the astronauts will splashdown off the coast of Florida at 10:07 am the next day. "The new undocking time allows for shorter phasing & more time to review the latest forecast info (sic)", she tweeted.

NASA, SpaceX prepare for Crew-3 departure

In a blog shared by NASA, the agency informed that it is chalking out plans for adjusting the management of the ISS before the Crew-3 team departs. Currently, there are 11 residents aboard the space station and the astronauts are working on a change of command to transition from an 11-member to a seven-member crew. Before leaving the ISS, astronauts Chari, Mashburn and Barron will complete the research that they began in November and Marshburn will hand over station command to Russian cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Oleg Artemyev. The Russian cosmonaut will lead Expedition 67 until late summer, NASA said. 

The Crew-3 astronauts are also handing over their responsibilities to the recently arrived Crew-4 astronauts that also include three from NASA and one from the European Space Agency (ESA). The newly arrived quartet includes Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, and Jessica Watkins with Samantha Cristoforetti from ESA and they are in the first week of a four-and-a-half-month research mission on the orbiting lab.

Recently, the returning ISS residents conducted several tests including leakage checks of their spacesuits. European astronaut Maurer recently shared a video of the Crew-3 members floating around in microgravity and conducting leak checks. Watch the amusing video below.