Skip to main content

SpaceX Crew-6 splash down after 6 months in orbit

Four astronauts aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule have splashed down off the coast of Florida after undocking from the International Space Station (ISS) 17 hours earlier.

NASA live streamed the key moments of the homecoming, including the undocking and the final moments before splashdown at about 12:20 a.m. ET on Monday morning. Footage from both events can be viewed below, with the first clip showing the Crew Dragon’s Draco engines firing as the vehicle moves away from the station:

Recommended Videos

Dragon's Draco thrusters firing pic.twitter.com/Dlux9wWfyS

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 3, 2023

The next clip shows the moment the Crew Dragon capsule, on its fourth mission, lands in the water:

Splashdown of Dragon confirmed – welcome back to Earth, Steve, @Astro_Woody, Andrey, and @Astro_Alneyadi! pic.twitter.com/ph27m0wP30

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 4, 2023

The return of NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, together with United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, marked the end of SpaceX’s Crew-6 mission that saw the crewmembers live and work aboard the orbital outpost for six months.

The mission was the fourth spaceflight for Bowen, who was part of space shuttle missions STS-126 in 2008, STS-132 in 2010, and STS-133 in 2011, and the first for Hoburg, Al Neyadi, and Fedyaev. Al Neyadi broke a couple of records too, spending longer in space than any Arab astronaut that has gone before, and becoming the first Arab to perform a spacewalk.

Crew-6 had a chance to spend a few days with the four astronauts of Crew-7, who arrived at the space station aboard another SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on August 27.

The ISS has had a rotating crew and has been continuously occupied ever since November 2000, and the facility will continue to host astronauts until 2030, shortly before it’s decommissioned.

By that time, however, it’s hoped that at least one privately funded space station will be in orbit to carry on from where the ISS leaves off.

Sunday’s crewed splashdown was the first in U.S. territory since May 2023 when four private space travelers returned from the space station at the end of the Ax-2 mission.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
SpaceX reveals date for next flight of Starship megarocket
The Starship launching from Starbase in October 2024.

SpaceX has revealed that it is targeting Monday, November 18, for the sixth test of the Starship, the world’s most powerful rocket comprising the first-stage Super Heavy booster and the upper-stage Starship spacecraft.

The massive vehicle, which creates around 17 million pounds of thrust at launch, is set to be used by NASA for crew and cargo missions to the moon, and possibly even Mars, though there’s still much testing to be done.

Read more
A SpaceX Crew Dragon is doing a shuffle at the ISS — here’s how to watch
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov approaches the International Space Station as it orbits 259 miles above Oregon.

This week will see a special maneuver at the International Space Station (ISS) as a SpaceX Crew Dragon takes one of the tiniest flights ever, hopping just a few meters over from one port of the station to another. And NASA will live stream the event, so you'll be able to watch the spacecraft take this short flight as it happens.

The changeover is necessary to make space for another SpaceX craft that will arrive on Monday, October 4. But this new arrival won't carry any crew as it is a cargo craft, part of the 31st commercial resupply services mission by SpaceX. This new arrival will dock at the forward-facing port on the Space Station's Harmony module, as it is easiest for craft to dock there than on the space-facing side. But the Crew Dragon is currently occupying this port, so it needs to undock, move to the other space-facing port, and redock there.

Read more
A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft has set a new record
SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft.

SpaceX’s Crew-8 members are finally on their way home after spending nearly eight months at the International Space Station (ISS).

The crew members were supposed to depart the ISS several weeks ago, but poor weather conditions at the splashdown site off the coast of Florida prompted mission planners to delay the homecoming. Prior to that, delays to departure were caused by measures to deal with Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft, which was docked at the station over the summer.

Read more