SpaceX Crew Returns Safely to Earth
Local News Staff 
After weather delayed departure for two days, four astronauts climbed on board the SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom on Friday to take a five-hour ride back down to Earth and conclude their nearly six-month mission to the International Space Station.
The spacecraft hit the water off the coast of Jacksonville in the Atlantic Ocean at 4:55 p.m. to bring NASA’s Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins as well as the ESA’s Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy back home after spending nearly 170 days on the orbiting station. The quartet launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 27 on a SpaceX Falcon 9.
“SpaceX from Freedom, thank you for an incredible ride up to orbit and an incredible ride home. Glad to be back,” said Crew-4 commander Lindgren.
The capsule had performed its deorbit burn slowing from more than 17,000 mph during which it will reached temperatures topping 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit producing 3-5 G’s of force, according to SpaceX commentators during coverage of the return trip home. Once in the atmosphere, its drogue parachutes slowed it further from 350 mph at about 18,000 feet altitude before the final four parachutes deployed at 119 mph at about 6,500 feet, to then slow it to 16 mph before splashdown.
The NASA astronauts will be flown to Houston while Cristoforetti will head to Europe as the capsule make its way to Port Canaveral for a return to KSC to be refurbished for a future flight. The quartet took their seats Friday morning with hatch closure after 10 a.m., and undocking at 12:05 p.m.
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