Fireball Over the Evening Sky – Courtesy: Shutterstock – Image by Nazarii_Neshcherenskyi
Just after midnight on Monday, Floridians who were out and about caught a glimpse of a blazing streak moving across the starry sky.
It was characterized as a “fireball” that passed by Zephyrhills Park by a witness in Zephyrhills. Images and videos captured a light streak piercing the night sky.
It wasn’t a meteor or a UFO, though. Instead, it was a group of astronauts returning to Earth from space.
Just off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, the SpaceX Dragon Endeavor’s crew of the Crew-6 mission splashed down. at the International Space Station for six months.
NASA astronauts Woody Hoburg and Stephen Bowen, UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev made up the crew. According to NASA, the team’s initial boarding of the ISS took place on March 3.
While aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Crew-6 engaged in more than a thousand scientific investigations, some of which focused on the biology of humans in microgravity and the adaptation of plant DNA to space.
They also launched a novel satellite from the University of Saskatchewan that uses pure melanin, the pigment in your skin that shields against UV rays, to detect radiation and guard against it.
“After spending six months aboard the International Space Station, logging nearly 79 million miles during their mission, and completing hundreds of scientific experiments for the benefit of all humanity, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 has returned home to planet Earth,” said Administrator Bill Nelson. “This international crew represented three nations, but together they demonstrated humanity’s shared ambition to reach new cosmic shores. The contributions of Crew-6 will help prepare NASA to return to the Moon under Artemis, continue onward to Mars, and improve life here on Earth.”
The ISS’s Crew-6 was relieved by SpaceX Crew-7 on August 27.
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Chris began his writing as a hobby while attending Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. Today he and his wife live in the Orlando area with their three children and dog.
