German astronaut Maurer to return to Earth
May 5, 2022
German Matthias Maurer and three other astronauts left the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, ending a six-month mission aboard the artificial satellite.
The crew undocked from the ISS at 0520 GMT in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule and is due to splash down some 23 hours later off the coast of Florida.
250 miles above Earth
If everything goes according to plan, Maurer, 52, is expected back in Germany late Friday evening.
The four astronauts — Americans Tom Marshburn, 61, Raja Chari, 44, and Kayla Barron, 34, along with Germany's Maurer — were seen in live NASA footage strapped into the cabin shortly before the spacecraft undocked the ISS, which orbits some 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Earth.
During the crew's stay, Russia invaded Ukraine. But Western astronauts and Russian cosmonauts still live together on the station.
Command handover
The crew's departure on Thursday came a week after they welcomed their replacement team aboard the ISS, also currently home to three Russian cosmonauts on a long-term assignment. One of those cosmonauts, Oleg Artemyev, assumed command of the station from Marshburn in a handover before Thursday's departure, NASA said.
SpaceX — Elon Musk's company — has now launched five crews for NASA and two private trips in just under two years.
jsi/sms (Reuters, dpa)