Space travels and exploration endeavours continue to be truly remarkable. Find out more about the Crew-6 mission that just returned from the International Space Station.
For the sake of science and push towards the boundaries of exploration towards space the Crew-6 mission spent 6 months orbiting the earth in outer pace. Now, four Astronauts have returned back to earth after a 6 month mission on the international space station, landing aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule off the coast of Florida, today Monday 4th September.
Here are 5 more basic spacey facts about the mission that you should know:
1. The Team Of Astronauts Aboard The Mission
The four astronauts that made up the Crew-6 team include NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, Sultan Alneyadi, only the second astronaut from the United Arab Emirates to travel to space, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
2. Departed Space Heading Back To Earth
The astronauts and members of the Crew 6 mission jointly run by NASA & SpaceX departed the space station Sunday 7:05 am ET, the 13 foot wide space vehicle navigating through Earth’s orbit and towards the target landing site off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida landed post midnight as per eastern standard time.
3. The Space Craft Heated Up To 1900 Degree Celsius, Is That Normal?
It’s truly amazing to find out how the capsule was travelling at more than 27,000 Kilometers per hour and as it began its final part of the descent, the space craft’s exterior heated up to 1900 degree Celsius slicing back into the thickest part of Earth’s atmosphere. The passengers in the space craft were protected by a heat shield helping temperatures to remain bearable at about 37.8 degree Celsius.
4. Disembarking Procedures & Hand Over
As it descended, the capsule deployed parachutes to further slow the descent. With rescue teams waiting near the splash down site who were prepared to haul the space craft out of the ocean and then onto a special boat – Dragon’s nest where the crew of four would go through medical checkouts aboard before boarding disembarking. After returning to earth, the crew will fly to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Over the past week, the crew 6 astronauts prepared to welcome and transfer over the operations to the Crew-7 team members who arrived at the space station on August 27.
5. Contributions Of The Mission
The members of Crew-6 oversaw 200 experiments and technological demonstrations including assisting a student robotic challenge, studying plant genetic adaptations on space and monitoring human health in microgravity to prepare for exploration beyond low Earth orbit and further to benefit life on earth. The astronauts even released Saskatchewan’s first satellite.
While, that’s not it, turns out the Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi kept sharing his journey from the mission quite actively through Twitter. It included snippets from their life on the space station, some science lessons, some super interesting facts and the fun information on gravity! Here are 3 lessons in space science from the astronaut himself:
Gravity Aboard The ISS VS Our Body
When we pour water here, it will not fall due to the minimal effect of gravity aboard the ISS. Nevertheless, this doesn’t prevent water or food from reaching our stomachs, thanks to the esophageal muscle contractions that push drinks and food downwards.
Astronauts Love Honey?
Have you ever wondered how honey forms in space? I still have some Emirati honey left that I enjoy from time to time. Honey has many benefits, especially for the health of astronauts.
Things Are Not That Simple Aboard The ISS
Breathing fresh and clean air on Earth is quite easy and uncomplicated. However, aboard the ISS, things are not that simple. We require devices such as air filters to obtain pure air. Here, I am changing the filters to keep our air safe and clean.
Can you believe how there was a time fiction movies and comics were the height of exploring space and today we have multiple space manned space missions?
