NASA, SpaceX announce Crew-8 undocking date, time

NASA and SpaceX are set to bring back the Crew-8 astronauts from the International Space Station after more than 200 days in orbit.

The space agencies said they are targeting no earlier than 5 p.m. on Wednesday for the crew to depart the ISS on the SpaceX dragon spacecraft.

Crew-8 launched from Kennedy Space Center aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on March 4 at 10:53 p.m.

If the undocking happens as planned on Wednesday, splashdown would occur on Friday at a landing site off the coast of Florida.

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NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, commander; Michael Barratt, pilot; and Jeanette Epps, mission specialist, will joined Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, also a mission specialist, in the same SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour capsule that was used for the Demo-2, Crew-2 and Crew-6 flights, as well as Axiom Mission 1.

The three NASA astronauts and one cosmonaut focused on more than 200 science experiments at the space station, including studies of motion sickness and human movement in microgravity, according to NASA.

The crew was set to undock on Tuesday, but weather conditions at multiple splashdown sites were unfavorable, NASA said.

Officials said they will continue to monitor weather conditions, but forecasters have seen improvement in expected weather at sites. The next weather briefing is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Wednesday.