NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 members Jessica Watkins, Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, and Samantha Cristoforetti link arms for a portrait on Oct. 14, 2022, just before boarding the Dragon Freedom crew ship and undocking from the International Space Station.
During their nearly six-month science expedition aboard the orbiting laboratory, the Crew-4 astronauts continued work on investigations documenting how improvements to the space diet affect immune function and the gut microbiome, determining the effect of fuel temperature on the flammability of a material, exploring possible adverse effects on astronaut hearing from equipment noise and microgravity, and studying whether additives increase or decrease the stability of emulsions.
NASA astronauts Watkins, Hines, and Lindgren, and European Space Agency astronaut Cristoforetti safely splashed down on Oct. 14, 2022, off the coast of Jacksonville. They recently answered questions about their mission aboard the International Space Station during an Oct. 20, 2022, news conference.
Image Credit: NASA