Due to unfavorable weather conditions at the splashdown locations, SpaceX, Axiom Space, and NASA are continuing to evaluate opportunities for Dragon and the Ax-3 astronauts to depart from the International Space Station for their return to Earth. Mission teams will continue to review weather conditions off the coast of Florida, which currently are not favorable for return, and set a new target opportunity for space station departure and splashdown of the Dragon spacecraft and Axiom crew members.
Once the undocking sequence begins, Dragon will perform a series of burns to move away from the space station, conduct multiple orbit-lowering maneuvers, jettison its trunk, and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere before splashing down off the coast of Florida.
Aboard the spacecraft will be Ax-3 astronauts Michael López-Alegría and Walter Villadei , Alper Gezeravcı , and Marcus Wandt, who flew to the space station on Dragon when Falcon 9 launched the spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, January 18 at 4:49 p.m. ET.
The next weather review is planned for 12 p.m., February 6. NASA will provide additional information on the next undocking opportunity as available.