NASA astronauts begin their journey back to Earth.

Wilmore and Williams, two veteran NASA astronauts and retired U.S. Navy test pilots, were strapped inside the Crew Dragon spacecraft along with two other astronauts and separated from the space station orbit at 1:05 a.m. Eastern Time on March 18 (12:05 p.m. same day in Vietnam), beginning their 17-hour journey back to Earth.

The four-person crew is expected to land off the coast of Florida (USA) late on March 18th, at 5:57 PM Eastern Time (4:57 AM on March 19th in Vietnam).

The return of astronauts Wilmore and Williams concluded an unusual, protracted mission fraught with uncertainty and technical difficulties, transforming a rare instance of NASA's contingency planning into a political and global event.

The pair of astronauts were launched into space as Starliner's first crew in June 2024 for a planned eight-day test mission. But problems with Starliner's propulsion system led to successive delays in their return home, culminating in NASA's decision last year to require them to bring a SpaceX spacecraft back this year as part of the agency's crew rotation schedule.

After returning to Earth, astronauts will be taken to the crew quarters at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston for several days for routine health checks, before NASA surgeons approve their return home to their families.

Living in space for months at a time can affect the human body in many ways, from muscle atrophy to impaired vision.

By the time they return to Earth, astronauts Wilmore and Williams will have recorded 286 days in space, longer than the average 6-month duration of an ISS mission, but still far short of the record held by American astronaut Frank Rubio, who spent 371 consecutive days in space (ending in 2023). This was an unexpected result of a coolant leak on a Russian spacecraft.

At the end of his third space flight, astronaut Williams will have spent a total of 608 days in space, trailing the record of 675 days held by American astronaut Peggy Whitson. Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko set the world record last year with 878 days in space.

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/cac-phi-hanh-gia-nasa-bat-dau-hanh-trinh-tro-ve-trai-dat-10301821.html