The weather is starting to play on Thomas Pesquet’s nerves and his three other fellow astronauts. They have been on board the International Space Station (ISS) for six months and their return to dry land has only been delayed! This is at least the third time.
The weather conditions have been bad in the Gulf of Mexico for 15 days, it is in this area that the water landing is planned. It is these weather conditions that are delaying the arrival of Crew Dragon 3, the capsule with the new occupants of the ISS on board. There fault to “winds of nearly 20 kilometers per hour, which is not enough but sufficient to threaten security” during the final parachute descent, explains Olivier Sanguy, scientific mediator at the Cité de l’Espace.
After 6 months spent away from their loved ones, this wait could be complicated for the astronauts but they are trained to manage this wait, according to Olivier Sanguy: “The situation is a bit special. But they know it’s part of the job. They are trained to handle this kind of solution”.
A trying day for astronauts
The latest news is that Thomas Pesquet and the three other astronauts still aboard the ISS are scheduled to drop off from the space station on Monday around 8 p.m. before starting the final descent. Their landing is estimated around 4 a.m. French time.
Olivier Sanguy details the program of this dense day for the four astronauts, once they have left the ISS: “they will start their orbit of return, that is to say they will turn around the Earth until they reach the point of entry into the atmosphere which means that they will land where they are expected . “
This moment is quite impressive since “The capsule enters the atmosphere at very high speed, around 27,000 km / hour. The heat shield protects them, because outside, it will be around 2,000 degrees. And then, in the last kilometers, the parachutes will open . They will descend under four parachutes and they will touch the water at a few kilometers per hour of speed. “ They will then be collected by boat.
A return that is not yet 100% guaranteed
This is currently the announced program because the weather conditions could again delay the procedure. But we shouldn’t delay too long either because the Crew Dragon 2 capsule of the four astronauts is not supposed to be used after November 19.
You can in any case follow the return of Thomas Pesquet, live and commented by scientists, on the site of the Cité de l’Espace in Toulouse.