Thomas Baskett has taken off from the International Space Station and headed for Earth

The second attempt would be perfect. French astronaut Thomas Baskett and his three crew set sail from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, November 8, after the first postponement of their return trip to Earth due to bad weather. Florida overnight.

43-year-old astronaut, The ISS arrived aboard at the end of April, Spent about two hundred days – or about six months – in orbit on its second spaceflight. “The bitter feeling of leaving the ISS. When you think about it, it’s really a magical place, unattainable and gives you powers like flying in 1 hour or 30 minutes or traveling around the world … it still seems like a daydream. . “, Expressed optimism on Twitter Through his numerous social media posts, he has given millions of people a glimpse of life in orbit.

Other members of the Crew-2 mission, Japanese Akihiko Hoshaid and Americans Shane Kimbo and Megan McArthur, are aboard the SpaceX space agency’s Dragon capsule. Carrying scientific equipment and experiments weighing 240 kg.

Three weeks of clinical trials

After entering the atmosphere, the ship will make an anesthetic landing on Tuesday, November 9, at 4:30 a.m. Paris time, before landing from Florida. The landing, which promises to be intense, is the first for the French astronaut. During his previous mission, in 2016-2017, he landed on the Kazakh steps aboard the Russian Soyuz.

It should “The water should be a little soft”, Said Thomas Baskett. “Then what can happen? Things are moving a little bit.”, He added. Once there is the capsule “Type” Sea surface (Splash Town, In English), it will float, and will be rescued as soon as possible by crew by nearby ships.

A helicopter will bring the Crew-2 back to dry land, from where they will board a flight to the NASA Space Center in Houston, Texas. Thomas Baskett will conduct a rapid medical examination before heading to Cologne, Germany, where the European Astronaut Center is located.

For three weeks, he will follow “An Intensive Exercise Program”, And will undergo the same experiments as before when staying at zero gravity, contributing to the collection of scientific data on the effects of prolonged stay in orbit on the human body. However, his relatives can still see him. “Then I hope, the first week of vacation for several months”, He said Friday. “I even feel like it’s been years. ” Looking back over the past six months, he called the mission “Very serious”.

SpaceX selected by NASA

Crew-2 is the second routine mission to be carried out by Elon Musk’s SpaceX on behalf of NASA – a continuing partnership between the US space agency and SpaceX. Next trip to the moon. After the launch of the space shuttle in 2011, the company allowed NASA to restart flights from US soil.

Thomas Beskett and his colleagues Americans Raja Sari, Kayla Baron and Tom Marshburn and Matthias Maurer of Germany, also known as Crew-3, are expected to leave Earth at 9:30 pm Florida on Wednesday night (3:30 pm Paris time). , Thursday). However, this is not a certainty: their departure has already been delayed several times, especially due to the weather.