At precisely 11.32 Polish time, Dragon Grace capsule with Ax-4 mission members landed in Pacific waters off the California coast. Sławomi Uznański-Wiśniewski is the second Pole to fly into space. During his mission to the global Space Station he conducted 13 experiments proposed by Polish institutions, including 2 from WAT.
Landing the capsule with Sławomir Uznański-Wiśniewski
The stay of the 4 Ax-4 mission astronauts at the global Space Station lasted 18 days. Their return to Earth began by saying goodbye aboard the ISS on Sunday 13 July. Sławomir Uznański-Wiśniewski expressed hope that Polish technology tested on ISS gained designation and will be utilized in the future. He stressed that the "Ignis" mission was only the beginning, and a large part of it was the work done by staff on Earth.
Together with the Pole, Peggy Whitson, mission commander and erstwhile NASA astronaut Tibor Kapu, mission specialist from Hungary, and Indian Shubhanshu Shukla pilot.
From orbit to home
What did their return look like? The journey consists of respective stages and took a full of about 24 hours. Astronauts left the ISS in a Crew Dragon Grace manned pod where they had previously reached the station. The capsule with 4 crew members without complications detached from the global Space Station on Monday 14 July at 13.15 Polish time.
Then Dragon moved distant from the ISS and headed for Earth, orbiting around it until it penetrated the atmosphere. The return was designed autonomously and did not require crew action on board the Dragon. The pod revolved around Earth, lowering its flight. At 10.39 Polish time there was a key stage, i.e. deorbitation ignition. It's a precise maneuver of the pod's engines lowering its orbit and heading for the Earth's atmosphere. Moments earlier, a alleged drink containing a service module with solar panels and supplies detached from Dragon. The module fell into the atmosphere where it was burned. The pod was placed on a suitable trajectory for safe entry into the atmosphere. Dragon entered it, warming up to a temperature of up to 160°C. The thermal shield protected the crew and equipment from utmost heat.
After passing through the advanced atmosphere layers, 2 tiny stabilizing parachutes were opened, followed by 4 main ones. They slowed the capsule's velocity from about 560 km/h to about 25 km/h. Thanks to this, Dragon Grace settled mildly in the Pacific waters off the coast of California at 11.32 Polish time, where it was not waiting for rescue ships. After interception, the pod was delivered to the ship. It was only on board this unit that hatches were opened and the crew could go outside.
Astronauts first go to the Texas Houston command center. From the USA, Sławomi will fly to Cologne, Germany, where the European Centre for Astronauts of the European Space Agency is located. Polish astronaut will go to the German Aeronautics and Space Centre (DLR) "Envihab", which is simply a key medical monitoring and rehabilitation centre after missions. “There, the ESA Space medicine Team, which includes surgical doctors, physiotherapists and sports coaches, will monitor Sławosz on his return to Earth gravity thanks to a peculiar regeneration program,” said the Polish Space Agency (POLSA) in a communication, which coordinates the Polish mission “Ignis”. According to preliminary information, after about a week in Germany, the Polish astronaut will return to the country.
Plan at 100 percent
The Ax-4 mission began on June 25. A day later, a Dragon Grace capsule with 4 astronauts aboard docked at the global Space Station. During these nearly 3 weeks on the ISS, the Ax-4 crew carried out a full of 60 experiments from 31 countries, with What Pole, as part of the mission “Ignis”, has done 13 projects proposed by Polish scientists and companies, among them 2 prepared by a squad of Military method Academy.
Yesterday, the mission's priorities were 100 percent achieved in the POLSA Communication. According to the report, in 2 weeks about 132 hours were devoted to the objectives of the European Space Agency, mostly within the Polish mission “Ignis”. Additionally, the Polish astronaut worked for respective hours to carry out Hungarian experiments with the astronaut Tibor Kapu from this country and on Axis Communications' tasks.
For 2 weeks the Pole carried out (within 105 hours) all planned actions. While 62.4% of the time was taken by his work on the technology-scientific program, 18.8% were educational activities (including 30 educational and popular discipline shows). The astronaut six times connected live to Earth: including students in Łódź, Wrocław, Rzeszów and Warsaw. The remaining working time was devoted to promotional activities of the Ignis mission and medical investigation or teleconferencing with the medical team. Poland allocated EUR 65 million to Sławomir's participation in the mission.
