After SpaceX welcomed NASA's Crew-3 members from the International Space Station (ISS) splashing down in their Crew Dragon, Florida homeowners may want to dust up their telescopes before dawn Friday to observe a possible space jellyfish.
Crew-3, the mission's crew, left the ISS early Thursday morning and spent more than 20 hours free-floating through orbit onboard the 13-foot-wide capsule before plunging back into the atmosphere and parachuting to its ocean landing.
Orlando Sentinel said SpaceX has a scheduled Starlink launch from KSC's Launch Pad 39-A at 5:42 a.m., four hours and 59 minutes after Endurance's landing, hoping to deliver another 53 of its broadband satellites into orbit.
TAMPA, FL - MAY 06: In this handout photo provided by NASA, (L-R) ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthais Maurer, NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn, Raja Chari, and Kayla Barron, are seen inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft onboard the SpaceX Shannon recovery ship shortly after having landed in the Gulf of Mexico on May 6, 2022 off the coast of Tampa, Florida. Maurer, Marshburn, Chari, and Barron are returning after 177 days in space as part of Expeditions 66 and 67 aboard the International Space Station.
NASA Crew-3 Splashes Down In Mexico Gulf
NASA's Crew-3 splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico close off the coast of Florida on Friday after a 24-hour delay to ensure favorable weather conditions in the Atlantic Ocean.
At 12:43 a.m. EDT, NASA's Raja Chari, Kayla Barron, and Tom Marshburn, as well as Matthias Maurer of Germany, splashed down in their Dragon Endurance spacecraft.
"We're glad to be back," Chari told the SpaceX team at mission control (via UPI). "Thanks for letting us take Endurance on a shakedown cruise, looking forward to watching many more flights of Endurance in the future. It was a great ride."
Crew-3's departure was delayed as authorities tried to better assess weather conditions in the targeted splashdown zones, with forecasters ultimately giving the green light to undock on Wednesday.
Recovery crews were dispatched after splashdown to lift the capsule out of the sea. After that, the crew will be evacuated and brought to Cape Canaveral by helicopter before returning to Houston.
Before boarding the Endurance spacecraft and undocking from the station at 1:05 a.m. EDT, the crew said their goodbyes to the seven astronauts still on board.
Endurance lasted around 23 and a half hours in orbit after flying itself away from the International Space Station Thursday before splashing down in the ocean on Friday.
Kjell Lindgren, Jessica Watkins, and Bob Hines of NASA and Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency traveled to the space station on April 27 for a six-month mission.
Dragon has made almost 20 flights to the orbital laboratory thus far.
SpaceX to Launch 53 Starlink Satellites via Falcon 9
At 5:42 a.m. Friday, SpaceX expects to launch the Falcon 9 into low orbit with 53 Starlink satellites from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Falcon 9's first stage will return to Earth after stage separation and land on the Gravitas drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. About 15 minutes before liftoff, a live webcast of the mission will commence.
Patch.com said the early-morning launch might create space jellyfish, a phenomenon that has previously triggered a surge of UFO rumors. When a rocket is launched in the early morning or at dusk, the sunlight reflects off the rocket plume gases, creating the appearance.
The launch on Friday is timed to create this effect, which should be observable from Earth.
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