Space capsule carrying Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish astronauts leaves International Space Station to return to Earth

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - A space capsule carrying Turkish, Spanish, Italian, and Swedish astronauts has undocked from the International Space Station, freeing the ship to make its way back to Earth.

Before it undocked at 9.20 a.m. Eastern Time (1420GMT), the hatch of the SpaceX Dragon capsule closed at 7.25 a.m. ET (1225GMT), safely sealing in the four-person Axiom-3 Mission crew, who have spent over two weeks in Earth orbit.

After the undocking, the capsule is leaving orbit and re-entering the atmosphere.

As it approaches Earth’s watery surface for splashdown, the capsule will deploy its parachutes.

The return process is expected to take around 47 hours, concluding on Friday morning, Eastern Time in the US.

The mission was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 19 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The Ax-3 space mission crew docked at the International Space Station the next day, Jan. 20.

During their over two-week stay on the station, Turkish Air Force pilot Col. Alper Gezeravci and his three crewmates from Spain, Italy, and Sweden carried out over 30 scientific experiments, about half of them by Gezeravci himself.

The crew’s scheduled return has been postponed several times due to bad weather.