Central Coast residents may see or hear the return of four private astronauts with the re-entry of the SpaceX Dragon capsule en route to splash down off the coast of Southern California early Tuesday morning,
The Axiom-4 mission began the trek home early Monday when the Dragon capsule undocked from the International Space Station for a 22.5-hour return flight.
After performing a series of departure burns to move away from the space station, Dragon will conduct multiple orbit-lowering maneuvers, jettison the trunk, and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere for splashdown off the coast of California at approximately 2:31 a.m. Tuesday. Unfavorable weather can delay re-entry.
U.S. Coast Guard notices to mariners advises that the re-entry could occur within one of three areas off the coasts of Los Angeles, Oceanside or San Diego.
SpaceX created the Dragon craft to carry humans and cargo into space for NASA and other customers.
The astronauts began the mission with the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket, with Dragon attached to the top, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:31 p.m. PDT on June 24.
Aboard the spacecraft are Ax-4 astronauts Peggy Whitson, Shubhanshu Shukla, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, and Tibor Kapu.
The crew, led by former NASA astronaut Whitson, spent 18 days at the International Space Station conducting research.
The flight also provided milestones for India, Poland, and Hungary, including the first time their astronauts lived and worked aboard the International Space Station.
Live coverage of splashdown will begin at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, via axiom.space/live and SpaceX websites.