The third long-duration team of astronauts launched by SpaceX to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA safely departed the orbiting outpost early on May 5 to begin their descent back to Earth.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying three NASA astronauts from the United States of America and a German astronaut from the European Space Agency (ESA) undocked from the ISS shortly after 1 am EDT (0500 GMT) to embark on a return flight that is expected to last about 23 hours. A live video showing the capsule moving away from the station was displayed on a NASA webcast.

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Dubbed Endurance, the crew consisting of American astronauts Tom Marshburn, Raja Chari, and Kayla Barron along with ESA crewmate Matthias Maurer, arrived at the space station on November 11.

Wearing helmeted white-and-black spacesuits, the four astronauts were seen strapped into the crew cabin shortly before the spacecraft separated from the space station, orbiting some 250 miles (400 km) above the Earth. 

Last month, a separate all-private astronaut crew launched by SpaceX to the space station under contract for the Houston-based company Axiom Space left the orbiting laboratory, concluding two weeks in orbit.

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The NASA-ESA team flying home was officially designated “Crew 3,” the third full-fledged long-duration group of astronauts that SpaceX has launched to the space station for the US space agency.

They will be carrying about 550 pounds of cargo with them on their flight back to Earth, reported Reuters. 

SpaceX is a California-based company founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, who is also the billionaire CEO of electric carmaker Tesla Inc. Musk recently took over social media platform Twitter. SpaceX has launched a total of seven human spaceflights over the past two years.