NASA welcomes returning Space Station crew members with TV special
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) prides itself in taking good care of its employees, and it will honor several individuals for their valiant efforts aboard the International Space Station.
Esteemed astronaut Peggy Whitson and her Expedition 52 crewmates will be featured in NASA television and website, as they return to Earth on Sept. 2.
According to the agency’s press release, Whitson, along with NASA flight engineer Jack Fischer and Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, will undock the Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft at 9:22 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
While inside the orbiting laboratory, the trio worked on hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science.
Whitson is returning to the planet after her third longest stay in the outpost, having completed a 288-day mission that began in November 2016. Her mission spanned 122.2 million miles and 4,623 orbits of Earth.
Yurchikhin and Fischer, meanwhile, both launched last April, having spent the past 136 days in space.
The group is expected to participate in standard post-flight medical evaluations before handing over station command to NASA’s Randy Bresnik. Khristian Ibarrola /ra
