<p>The fourth long-duration astronaut team launched by SpaceX to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA departed the orbiting outpost on Friday to begin their flight back to Earth, capping a science mission of nearly six months.</p>.<p>The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying three US NASA astronauts and an Italian crewmate from the European Space Agency undocked from the ISS at 12:05 p.m. EDT (1605 GMT) to embark on a return flight expected to last nearly five hours.</p>.<p>Live video showing the capsule drifting away from the station as the two vehicles soared high over the North Atlantic was shown on a NASA webcast of the undocking.</p>.<p>Wearing helmeted white-and-black spacesuits, the four astronauts were seen strapped into the crew cabin shortly before the spacecraft separated from the station, orbiting some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.</p>.<p>A series of several brief rocket thrusts then autonomously pushed the capsule safely clear of the ISS and lowered its orbit to line up the capsule for later atmospheric re-entry and splashdown.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/science-and-environment/worlds-first-space-tourist-signs-up-for-flight-around-the-moon-1153028.html" target="_blank">World's first space tourist signs up for flight around the moon</a></strong></p>.<p>If all goes smoothly, the Crew Dragon, dubbed Freedom, will parachute into the sea off the Atlantic coast of Florida at 4:55 pm (2055 GMT).</p>.<p>The Freedom crew, Americans Kjell Lindgren, 49, Jessica Watkins, 34, and Bob Hines, 47, as well as Italy's Samantha Cristoferetti, 45, arrived at the station on April 27 following a SpaceX launch that day. Watkins became the first African-American woman to serve on a long-duration mission aboard the ISS.</p>.<p>That crew had been designated as "Crew-4," the fourth full-fledged long-duration group of astronauts launched to ISS by SpaceX since the private rocket company founded by Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk began flying NASA personnel in May 2020.</p>.<p>Their departure came a week after their replacement team, Crew-5, arrived aboard the station - a Russian cosmonaut, a Japanese astronaut and two NASA crewmates, including the first Native American woman sent to orbit.</p>.<p>Crew-5 is remaining on ISS for now with two other Russians and a third American who shared a Soyuz flight to the ISS in September. One of those cosmonauts, Sergey Prokopyev, assumed ISS command from Cristoferetti of the European Space Agency before Crew-4's departure.</p>.<p>ISS, spanning the length of a football field, has been continuously occupied since 2000, operated by a US-Russian-led partnership that includes Canada, Japan and 11 European countries.</p>
<p>The fourth long-duration astronaut team launched by SpaceX to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA departed the orbiting outpost on Friday to begin their flight back to Earth, capping a science mission of nearly six months.</p>.<p>The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying three US NASA astronauts and an Italian crewmate from the European Space Agency undocked from the ISS at 12:05 p.m. EDT (1605 GMT) to embark on a return flight expected to last nearly five hours.</p>.<p>Live video showing the capsule drifting away from the station as the two vehicles soared high over the North Atlantic was shown on a NASA webcast of the undocking.</p>.<p>Wearing helmeted white-and-black spacesuits, the four astronauts were seen strapped into the crew cabin shortly before the spacecraft separated from the station, orbiting some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.</p>.<p>A series of several brief rocket thrusts then autonomously pushed the capsule safely clear of the ISS and lowered its orbit to line up the capsule for later atmospheric re-entry and splashdown.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/science-and-environment/worlds-first-space-tourist-signs-up-for-flight-around-the-moon-1153028.html" target="_blank">World's first space tourist signs up for flight around the moon</a></strong></p>.<p>If all goes smoothly, the Crew Dragon, dubbed Freedom, will parachute into the sea off the Atlantic coast of Florida at 4:55 pm (2055 GMT).</p>.<p>The Freedom crew, Americans Kjell Lindgren, 49, Jessica Watkins, 34, and Bob Hines, 47, as well as Italy's Samantha Cristoferetti, 45, arrived at the station on April 27 following a SpaceX launch that day. Watkins became the first African-American woman to serve on a long-duration mission aboard the ISS.</p>.<p>That crew had been designated as "Crew-4," the fourth full-fledged long-duration group of astronauts launched to ISS by SpaceX since the private rocket company founded by Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk began flying NASA personnel in May 2020.</p>.<p>Their departure came a week after their replacement team, Crew-5, arrived aboard the station - a Russian cosmonaut, a Japanese astronaut and two NASA crewmates, including the first Native American woman sent to orbit.</p>.<p>Crew-5 is remaining on ISS for now with two other Russians and a third American who shared a Soyuz flight to the ISS in September. One of those cosmonauts, Sergey Prokopyev, assumed ISS command from Cristoferetti of the European Space Agency before Crew-4's departure.</p>.<p>ISS, spanning the length of a football field, has been continuously occupied since 2000, operated by a US-Russian-led partnership that includes Canada, Japan and 11 European countries.</p>