4 astronauts return to Earth safely after spending 200 days in space station
As many as four astronauts returned to planet Earth on Monday after spending 200 days in a space station. They rode SpaceX to reach Earth. However, as the toilet of SpaceX Capsule broke, they had to manage call of nature wearing diapers.
The astronauts touched earth after parachuting into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensaola in Florida while recovery boats rushed to rescue them.
“Their capsule streaked through the late night sky like a dazzling meteor before parachuting into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida. Recovery boats quickly moved in with spotlights,” reported TIME.
It took the astronauts eight hours of journey to reach Earth from the space station.
The newcomers were scheduled to launch first, but NASA switched the order because of bad weather and an astronaut’s undisclosed medical condition. The welcoming duties will now fall to the lone American and two Russians left behind at the space station.
NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japan’s Akihiko Hoshide and France’s Thomas Pesquet are the four astronauts who should have been back by Monday morning. However, due to high wind in the recovery zone they were delayed. However, they did not have any complain regarding the delay as they got to watch the ‘magical view’ for one more night.
“One more night with this magical view. Who could complain? I’ll miss our spaceship!” tweeted Pesquet.
Une nuit de plus avec cette vue sur la Voie lactée, qui s’en plaindrait
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One more night with this magical view. Who could complain? I’ll miss our spaceship!#MissionAlpha pic.twitter.com/ePnTA2QLLg— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) November 7, 2021
The four astronauts took a spin around the space station before commencing their return journey to take pictures. Reportedly, this was a first for SpaceX that NASA’s shuttles used to do it all the time before their retirement a decade ago. Last time, a Russian capsule had flied around the space station three years ago.
Another issue that the four faced was they needed to rely on diapers for the eight hour trip as the toilet in their capsule was broken.
Ms Kalinga AI