SpaceX Dragon Endeavor Departs ISS: Journey Home for Crew-11

Dragon Exits ISS Keepout Sphere

• 🚀 SpaceX's Dragon Endeavor has successfully undocked from the International Space Station and completed its departure burn.
• 🎯 Mission Control confirmed Dragon has exited the "keepout sphere," an invisible 200-meter radius safety zone around the ISS.
• 🔑 This milestone allows the Crew-11 astronauts to remove their space suits as they begin their journey home.

Navigating Safety Boundaries

• ⚠️ The "keepout sphere" requires visiting spacecraft to be configured to not cross this boundary for at least four orbits, even with loss of maneuvering capability.
• 🏈 Dragon is now moving towards the "approach ellipsoid" (AE), a larger, football-shaped safety zone measuring 4 km by 2 km by 2 km.
• ⏳ Exiting the AE requires spacecraft to be on a 24-hour safe free drift trajectory, meaning they would not enter the AE for at least 24 hours without maneuvering.

Journey Back to Earth

• 🛰️ The Endeavor spacecraft and the ISS are currently flying southeast of New Zealand.
• 🔥 A deorbit burn is scheduled for 1:51 a.m. Central time to slow Dragon down for re-entry.
• 🌊 The mission will conclude with a splashdown off the coast of San Diego around 2:41 a.m. Central time, wrapping up a 167-day mission.
• 📡 A brief loss of signal is expected during peak heating due to plasma buildup around the Dragon capsule.