With the first fully private space tourism mission to the International Space Station (ISS) drawing to a close this Tuesday, the Axiom-1 crew will soon be heading back to Earth on a SpaceX craft.
The Axiom-1 crew consists of Commander Michael López-Alegría, Pilot Larry Connor, and Mission Specialists Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy. Their departure from the ISS will be livestreamed, and we have the details on how to watch.
What to expect from the departure
The Axiom-1 crew arrived at the ISS on Saturday, April 9, and will head home after spending a total of 12 days in space. They will travel on the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour and are set to splash down off the coast of Florida. As well as carrying the four-person crew home, the Dragon spacecraft will also be loaded with the results of scientific experiments carried out on the ISS in addition to supplies.
How to watch the departure
The coverage of the departure will run throughout Tuesday morning and will show splashdown on Wednesday evening as well. Coverage begins at 7 a.m. ET (4 a.m. PT) on Tuesday, April 19, when the farewell ceremony in which the remaining ISS crew sees off the Axiom-1 crew will begin.
This is followed by coverage of the hatch closure between the ISS and the Dragon, scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET (5:30 a.m. PT), and the undocking of the Dragon from the ISS at 10:35 a.m. ET (7:35 a.m. PT), with coverage running for a further 30 minutes after undocking. Coverage of the Tuesday departure will be available on NASA’s website, or you can watch using the video embedded near the top of this page.
The Dragon will then travel back from the ISS with the crew on board, and coverage is scheduled to resume for the splashdown at 6:15 a.m. ET (3:15 a.m. PT) on Wednesday, April 20. Coverage for the Wednesday splashdown will be provided by Axiom Space, which you can watch via the company’s website.
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