Following a successful handover to the Crew-8 astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS), the Crew Dragon Endurance, along with its crew, is now set to return to Earth. The undocking of the spacecraft, commanded by US Marine Corps Lt. Col Jasmin Moghbeli, occurred on Monday, March 11 at 11:20 AM EDT (15:20 UTC).

The Crew-7 astronauts, which included pilot Andreas Mogensen from the European Space Agency (ESA) and mission specialists Satoshi Furukawa from JAXA (Japan) and Konstantin Borisov from Roscosmos (Russia), spent a total of just over six months in orbit. Their primary objective during this time was to hand over the Station to the incoming Crew-8 residents.

Having launched from the Kennedy Space Center on August 26, 2023, the Crew-7 members conducted numerous experiments throughout their stay on the ISS. They are now focused on familiarizing the Crew-8 astronauts with the ISS's systems, life aboard the station, and emergency procedures. Additionally, they are preparing their spacecraft for the return journey to Earth.

In a handover ceremony held on Sunday, March 11, ISS commander Andreas Mogensen officially passed on command responsibilities to Oleg Kononenko. Kononenko will fulfill the role of ISS commander until September when he, along with Nikolai Chub and Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, will return to Earth on Soyuz MS-25. Loral O'Hara, Crew-7's Soyuz MS-24 crewmate, will also return with them.

Although the departure of Endurance from the ISS marks the end of the Crew-7 expedition, Expedition 70 will continue until early April when Loral O'Hara departs the station. Throughout their mission, the Crew-7 astronauts conducted various experiments, including biomedical research such as the CIPHER project, which monitored the astronauts' health.

Notable achievements of the crew include a November extravehicular activity (EVA) conducted by Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O'Hara, during which they installed a bearing on a rotary joint and prepared the ISS for a future solar array upgrade. Another spacewalk involving Loral O'Hara and Andreas Mogensen was rescheduled for Expedition 71.

Once Endurance detaches from the ISS's Harmony module's zenith port, it will be directed towards a splashdown site somewhere off the coasts of Florida. The timing of the return to Earth will depend on weather conditions at several potential splashdown locations on both the Gulf Coast and Atlantic Coast of the state.

The scheduled splashdown for Tuesday, March 12, is set to occur at 5:50 a.m. EDT (09:50 UTC). Recovery ships Megan and Shannon, named after the first women to fly aboard Crew Dragon, have been prepared for Endurance's return. Megan will be stationed in the Gulf Coast, sailing out of Tampa Bay, while Shannon is deployed to the Atlantic Coast, having departed from Port Canaveral for last-minute training ahead of the Crew-7 splashdown.

Seven sites have been identified for the potential splashdown, including locations off the coast of Pensacola, Panama City, Tallahassee, and Tampa on the Gulf side. On the Atlantic side, options include Jacksonville, Daytona, and Cape Canaveral. Shannon has sailed from Port Canaveral for the final training session, while Megan has made its way into the Gulf of Mexico in preparation for the splashdown.

As Endurance orbits independently, the crew will suit up in their launch and entry suits to ensure readiness for the return. Approximately an hour before the scheduled splashdown, the "trunk," which contains solar panels and fins, will be jettisoned, and the heat shield, made of PICA-X, will be uncovered.

The safe return of the Crew-7 astronauts to Earth will mark another successful chapter in human space exploration and pave the way for future missions to the ISS and beyond.