NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 splash down on Earth
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Crew 11 is expected to splash down off the coast of Southern California at 3:41 a.m., closing out a 167-day stay in space.
Crew-11’s departure leaves the ISS, which is normally staffed by seven astronauts and cosmonauts, in the hands of cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, who replaced Fincke as the Expedition 74 commander. Astronaut Chris Williams and cosmonaut Sergey Mikaev also remain onboard the orbital lab.
NASA sends a fresh crew to the International Space Station with Friday’s launch of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, including three fliers who were assigned to the flight after NASA ran into problems with Boeing’s troubled Starliner capsule last year.
A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule homed in on the International Space Station early Saturday and glided in for a problem-free docking — delivering two NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and a Japanese flier — to the outpost after a 16-hour rendezvous.