Ax-3 SpaceX Dragon Freedom Crew Spacecraft Docked to International Space Station

Ax-3 SpaceX Dragon Freedom Crew Spacecraft Docked to International Space Station

The SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft is pictured from a window aboard the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft. Both spacecraft are docked to ports on the International Space Station's Harmony module. Freedom is seen moments before undocking from Harmony's forward port with the Axiom Mission 3 crew aboard. 

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft undocked from the space-facing port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module at 9:20 a.m. EST on Feb. 7, 2024, over the Pacific Ocean, west of Ecuador, to complete the third all-private astronaut mission to the orbiting laboratory, Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3).

The Ax-3 SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft is targeting a splashdown off the coast of Daytona, Florida, at approximately 8:30 a.m. EST on Friday, Feb. 9, 2024.

Ax-3 astronauts Michael López-Alegría, Walter Villadei, Marcus Wandt, and Alper Gezeravci completed 18 days aboard the orbiting laboratory at the conclusion of their mission. The SpaceX Dragon will return to Earth with more than 550 pounds of science and supplies, including NASA experiments and hardware.

Learn more about Ax-3 at:

https://axiomspace.com/ax3

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Date: Feb. 7, 2024

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