Space: Thomas Pesquet and three other astronauts return to Earth on Monday at 1:14 p.m.

After six months in orbit, the four astronauts from the Crew-2 mission are scheduled to return to Earth in November. While the timing remains uncertain at the moment, due to weather conditions, Thomas Pesquet and three other astronauts will leave the International Space Station on Sunday, November 7, before landing Monday at 1:14 p.m. (12:14 GMT), NASA announced. Friday. ..

The Crew-2 crew, consisting of Thomas Pesquet, Japanese Akihiko Hoshide and Americans Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, will return to Earth before the four Crew-3 astronauts arrive aboard the International Space Station, including flight. – The closure has been delayed several times, mainly due to the weather. “As we prepare to leave, we feel some bitterness.”Thomas Pesquet said earlier Friday at a press conference from the space station. “We may never go back to see the International Space Station, and it truly is a magical place.”

The 43-year-old French astronaut has completed the second mission of his football career, “Alpha”. He had arrived aboard the International Space Station with colleagues on April 24. During his previous mission “Proxima” in 2016-2017, he reached the Kazakh steppes. So landing will be the first for him.

Should “Be a little gentler on the water”Thomas Bisquet said. “Then what can happen is that things move a little bit.” The French added: “We get a little seasick already when we go back to land, so here when we go back to sea it might be worse, but we’ll see.”

After its rotating descent, the Dragon capsule will be retrieved from one of the potential access points, off Florida, by a SpaceX boat. Crew-2 is Elon Musk’s second regular mission on behalf of NASA. The third flight is finally scheduled to take off on Wednesday at 9:03 p.m. Florida time (2:03 GMT Thursday) aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral. US astronauts with the third crew, Raja Chari, Kayla Barron and Tom Marshburn, as well as Germany’s Matthias Maurer, have been in quarantine at the Kennedy Space Center for several days.

The space agency envisions the Crew-2 capsule, before beginning its descent toward Earth, to tour the space station, in order to photograph the outside. Then the four astronauts await an unexpected challenge on their journey: they won’t be able to use the Dragon capsule’s toilets, as a leak problem has been discovered. “It is of course not the best solution, but we are prepared to deal with it”, commented humbly Megan MacArthur on Friday.

After returning to Earth and taking some tests to check his health in Florida, Thomas Pesquet will be flown very quickly to Cologne, Germany, where the European Astronaut Center is located. will follow there Three-week intensive fitness program, and will undergo the same previous tests while in zero gravity, in order to contribute to the collection of scientific data on the effect of a long stay in orbit on the human body. “And then I hope, the first week of vacation for several months”Confirmed on Friday. “I even feel like years have passed.” Looking back over the past six months, call the mission “Very, very severe”.