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 captures Starship booster for the first time in historic test
Mechazilla catching Starship booster stage.

SpaceX has scripted history with the fifth test of its massive Starship rocket system. The giant rocket launched from the Starbase site in South Texas earlier today, and following a brief trip to space, the reusable spacecraft made a splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

But the more remarkable feat was the successful capture of the Super Heavy booster, a fully reusable first stage that stands at a towering 71 meters and draws power from 33 Raptor engines. Up till now, the boosters have splashed into the water (or got damaged), but this time, SpaceX managed to capture it using giant mechanical arms.

Read more
How to watch SpaceX’s fifth Starship test flight on Sunday
spacex starship fifth flight live stream 5 website desktop 1 12e2f537a0 jpg

SpaceX is getting ready to launch its mighty Starship on its fifth test flight, scheduled for Sunday, October 13. With a mostly-successful fourth test flight behind it, the Starship has already been into orbit and returned to Earth mostly intact. This time, SpaceX will be hoping to catch its Super Heavy booster as well as taking the upper stage Starship into orbit.

The exact date of this fifth test flight has been delayed due to issues with licensing from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), but SpaceX has now confirmed it is targeting 8 a.m. ET (5 a.m. PT) Sunday for its test.

Read more
SpaceX could launch Starship on 5th test flight much earlier than expected
The world's most powerful rocket on the launchpad.

There’s growing expectation that SpaceX could launch the mighty Starship rocket as early as Sunday, October 13.

SpaceX was informed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last month that it was unlikely to receive a launch permit until late November as the regulator needed time to complete work on its flight launch assessment.

Read more