The shuttle Crew Dragon Freedom has begun the journey that will bring back to Earth the astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, of the European Space Agency (ESA), and her three crewmates Crew 4, the Americans Nasa Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren and Jessica Watkins.
The SpaceX shuttle has disengaged from Node 2 (Zenith) of the International Space Station and the journey to Earth will last approximately seven hours, with landing at 10.50 pm in the Atlantic Ocean, off Jacksonville (Florida).
The closing of the hatch
After wearing the black and white suits typical of the crews of the Crew Dragon shuttles, the astronauts of the Crew 4 crew greeted with kisses and hugs the seven colleagues who will remain on the Space Station.
So Samantha Cristoforetti and Jessica Watkins closed the hatch of the Crew Dragon Freedom shuttle, hooked to Node 2 (Zenith) of the ISS;
then they took their places at the two ends of the row of the four seats of the SpaceX shuttle, in the center of which sit the commander of the Crew 4 Kjell Lindgren and the pilot Bob Hines.
Immediately afterwards, the depressurization operations began, necessary to ensure that the shuttle releases slowly and safely from the orbital station.
Samantha Cristoforetti looks at the Earth from the Dome, the large panoramic window of the Space Station (source: ESA, Twitter)
Nostalgia for space
AstroSamantha's latest tweets are full of nostalgia: "I will miss this point of view", he wrote, accompanying a photo of him in which he looks at the Earth from the Dome, the large panoramic window of the Space Station.
Also on Twitter, the astronaut published a video of the Earth in the night with the lights that draw the contours of the coasts and which are more concentrated and intense in correspondence with large cities.
"Fly like me one last time!" She wrote.
“Goodbye and, as always, thank you for all the fish!”, She added citing one of his favorite books of his, Douglas Adams' 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'.
One last time, fly along with me!
Farewell and, as always, thanks for all the fish!
#MissionMinerva @esa @esaspaceflight @ESA_EO @Space_Station pic.twitter.com/Dpdushsdvu
- Samantha Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) October 13, 2022
