SpaceX Dragon Undocks from ISS for Return to Earth

Crew 11 Departure from ISS

• 🚀 SpaceX Dragon Endeavor undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) to begin its 10.5-hour journey back to Earth.
• 👨‍🚀 The four-person Crew 11, including Commander Zena Cardman and pilot Mike Frink, are returning after 167 days in space, completing 2,672 orbits.
• ⚠️ The return was accelerated by a few weeks due to a medical concern with another crew member, ensuring proper health monitoring.

Undocking and Departure Maneuvers

• 🛰️ The undocking process involved closing hatches, retracting umbilicals, and opening 12 capture hooks, with physical separation confirmed.
• ⚡ Dragon utilized its Draco thrusters for initial undocking and departure burns to increase distance from the ISS, moving outside the "keepout sphere" and "approach ellipsoid."
• ⚙️ The entire undocking and departure sequence was designed to be fully autonomous, requiring no direct action from the crew.

Journey Home and Splashdown

• 🌊 Dragon is targeted to splash down off the coast of San Diego, California, on Thursday, January 15th, at approximately 12:41 a.m. Pacific time.
• ⚓ A SpaceX recovery vessel will be on-site to assist with egress and recovery of the crew and spacecraft.
• 🧑‍🚀 The remaining three-person crew on the ISS, consisting of NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kutzerov and Sergey Mikv, will remain until Crew 12 arrives.

Crew 11 Mission Highlights

• 📊 Over their 167 days in space, Crew 11 completed 2,672 orbits and traveled 70.8 million miles.
• 🧑‍🚀 This mission marks the 11th crew rotation for Dragon and its 12th flight with NASA's Commercial Crew Program.
• 🏅 Astronaut Mike Frink is wrapping up his fourth spaceflight, accumulating 549 days in space, ranking him fourth all-time for NASA astronauts.