NASA Announces Plans To Cover Axiom Mission 3’s Departure From The Space Station

The undocking of Axiom Mission 3 from the International Space Station is now scheduled for no earlier than Monday, February 5, by NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX. Teams are withdrawing from the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Axiom crew undocking opportunity scheduled for Saturday, February 3, as a result of the weather off the Florida coast. Saturday, February 3, at 8 p.m. EST is when the next weather review is scheduled. Additional coverage details will be supplied by NASA.

Before the crew departs and undocks from the International Space Station for their return to Earth, NASA will broadcast live coverage of Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3), a private astronaut mission.

The four-person astronaut crew is expected to disembark from the Harmony module of the space station at 6:05 a.m. EST in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, in preparation for their return trip and splashdown off the coast of Florida.

In collaboration with Axiom Space and SpaceX, NASA will broadcast live coverage of joint space station operations. The preparations for the hatch-closure will be covered starting at 4 a.m. At 5:45 a.m., NASA will start to cover undocking again.

YouTube, NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency website will all feature coverage. Discover how to watch NASA TV live on various platforms, such as social media.

At the end of their mission, Michael Lopez-Alegría, Walter Villadei, Marcus Wandt, and Alper Gezeravci, the four private astronauts, will have spent roughly two weeks in space. In eulogy delivered on Friday before their undocking, the Axiom crew and Expedition 70 emphasized their time spent on the space station.

More than 550 pounds of cargo, including NASA hardware and data from more than 30 different experiments the crew carried out during the mission, will be carried back to Earth by their SpaceX Dragon. Around 7 p.m., splashdown is anticipated.

Jan. 18 saw the successful launch of Ax-3, the third all-private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The following (all times Eastern and subject to change based on operations) is NASA’s undocking and departure coverage for Ax-3:

On Saturday, February 3rd.

NASA starts covering the hatch closure at 4:15 a.m.

NASA takes over at 5:45 a.m. and covers undocking until 6:05 a.m.

NASA’s coverage ends when joint space station operations with Axiom Space and SpaceX mission teams conclude, which is approximately half an hour after undocking. On its website, Axiom Space will once again provide coverage of Dragon’s splashdown and re-entry.

In addition to advancing a new era of space exploration that allows more individuals and organizations to fly multiple mission objectives, NASA is pursuing the Ax-3 mission as part of its efforts to develop a commercial market in low Earth orbit. By working together, the arc of human spaceflight is broadened and more people, scientists, and businesses will have access to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station.