Astronauts returning home from the International Space Station - CNN

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Four astronauts are expected to committee a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule and instrumentality location from the International Space Station connected Friday, bringing an extremity to their astir six-month enactment aboard the orbiting laboratory.

The astronauts — NASA’s Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins arsenic good arsenic Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti with the European Space Agency oregon ESA — shared goodbye hugs with different astronauts connected the abstraction presumption and strapped into their spacecraft astir 10 a.m. ET.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft near its docking larboard astatine the ISS astir noon ET, and it’ll pain its engines respective times to gradually little its altitude. It’s expected to splash down disconnected Florida Friday afternoon.

The unit was initially scheduled to depart the abstraction presumption Wednesday evening, but crushed crews waved disconnected that effort owed to rough weather. Storms besides dashed a 2nd effort astatine the instrumentality Thursday morning.

As of Thursday afternoon, NASA was monitoring imaginable upwind issues astatine the crew’s designated splashdown sites, noting that a acold beforehand was passing done Florida, according to a statement. Weather officials had assurance that Friday’s upwind would beryllium much favorable arsenic a high-pressure strategy moved into the area.

Weather delays of spacecraft launching oregon returning from the abstraction presumption is common, particularly arsenic unpredictable storms batter the spashdown sites disconnected Florida.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft that volition bring the astronauts location typically has seven imaginable landing zones – conscionable disconnected the seashore of Pensacola, Tampa, Tallahassee, Panama City, Cape Canaveral, Daytona and Jacksonville.

NASA and SpaceX are targeting Jacksonville for Friday’s splashdown.

This mission, called Crew-4, has marked a historical first, with Watkins becoming the archetypal Black pistillate to articulation the abstraction presumption unit for an extended stay.

During their stay, the astronauts conducted subject experiments, including probe connected however to turn vegetables successful abstraction without ungraded and the survey of spaceflight effects connected the quality body.

Those experiments are designed to assistance astronauts recognize however they whitethorn 1 time turn their ain nutrient and however their bodies whitethorn respond connected missions deeper into space, specified arsenic connected NASA’s planned Artemis satellite missions, Watkins said during a quality briefing past week.

“It’s been awesome to beryllium capable to locomotion into the Columbus module and odor the odor of leaves growing, of plants growing,” Watkins told reporters.

Cristoforetti, who was connected 1 erstwhile ngo to the abstraction presumption successful 2014-2015, is the sole pistillate successful ESA’s astronaut corps, and she made past of her ain connected this mission. Last month, she took implicit arsenic commandant of the abstraction station, becoming the archetypal European pistillate to bash so.

Cristoforetti besides conducted a spacewalk successful July to deploy small satellites and enactment connected the installation of a caller robotic limb connected the abstraction station’s exterior.