SpaceX US spacecraft safely returns after 200 days

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] SpaceX's spacecraft, a U.S. space exploration company, safely returned after completing its mission of scientific experiments and other tasks over about six months.

According to major foreign media, the SpaceX spacecraft Crew-2, which had been staying at the International Space Station (ISS), landed as scheduled at 10:30 PM Eastern Time (12:30 PM Korean Time on the 9th) in the waters off Florida, USA.

The return of the four astronauts came 200 days after the launch on April 23. It took about eight hours from undocking at the ISS, boarding the spacecraft, to returning to Earth.

Although the overall return process of Crew-2 was safe, an unexpected situation occurred just before return during orbital flight where the spacecraft's restroom could not be used. SpaceX concluded that there was no structural damage to the spacecraft caused by leaked urine and that there was no problem with the return flight, but restroom use was prohibited. Accordingly, foreign media reported that the astronauts wore a type of adult diaper during their return journey.

Crew-3, which will follow SpaceX Crew-2, is scheduled to launch on the 10th from Kennedy Space Center in Florida and will perform a six-month mission at the ISS.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.