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NASA-SpaceX crew begins return voyage from International Space Station -Breaking

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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO – A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is seen standing on the launchpad behind crew photos. This image shows the Crew 3 mission, which will take place at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canavera.

By Steve Gorman

(Reuters) – The four astronauts that arrived at the International Space Station for a lengthy-duration science mission in April began their return journey to Earth Monday. Their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule was detached from orbiting laboratory and made its way back home.

Endeavour, the Dragon vehicle, was launched from the station at 2:05 p.m. Eastern (2000 GMT). The process was live broadcast by NASA. Video showed the astronauts in their white helmets as they entered the cabin.

Spacecraft operated autonomously. It was programmed ahead of departure to perform a 90 minute fly-around around the space station. Crew members can then take series of photographs from the orbiting outpost. The crew is approximately 250 miles (400km) away. Spacecraft’s final path to Earth will be set by its rocket propellers.

Endeavour is scheduled to parachut into the Gulf of Mexico at approximately 10:30 p.m. ET on Monday (0330 GMT Tuesday). It will return after eight hours of flight, which includes a fiery exit through Earth’s atmosphere.

As the capsule plunges through atmosphere, frictional heat can often cause temperature around vehicle to rise up to 3,500 Fahrenheit (1.927 Celsius).

A special team of recovery specialists will be standing by in the Gulf to pick up the crew and capsule.

It consists of Shane Kimbrough (54) and Megan McArthur (55) – as well as Akihiko Hishide (52) and Thomas Pesquet (43) – both mission specialists from the European Space Agency.

They were lifted to orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket that took off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.

These are the 3rd crew to be launched into space under NASA’s new public-private partnership. SpaceX is the rocket company founded in 2002 by Elon Musk (NASDAQ:) Inc.

This team, known as “Crew 2”, was launched on a SpaceX capsule by NASA. It marks the second space station crew that NASA has successfully launched since 2011.

Crew 3 was supposed to be the replacement team. But, due to unspecified weather conditions and a medical issue that involved one of the crew members, this launch has been postponed.

NASA reports that Crew 2 has a problem with a leaky toilet in the spacecraft. This means astronauts will need to use their spacesuits to flush out any natural occurrences during their return flight.

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