Space capsule with 1st Turkish astronaut on board closes hatch to undock from Intl Space Station, then bound for Earth

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The hatch of a space capsule carrying the first-ever Turkish space traveler closed on Wednesday as part of maneuvers to undock from the International Space Station, then homeward bound to Earth.

After the hatch closed at 7.25 a.m. Eastern Time (1225GMT), the SpaceX's Dragon capsule, carrying the four-person Axiom-3 Mission crew, is expected to undock at 9.20 a.m. ET (1420GMT).

The crew is expected to return to Earth on Friday.

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 were responsible for carrying out over 30 scientific experiments, about half of them by Gezeravci himself.

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