Axiom-3 space team's journey back to Earth scheduled for Saturday

ANKARA

SpaceX's Axiom-3 (Ax-3) space team, including first Turkish space traveler Alper Gezeravci, is expected to leave the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday, 6 a.m. ET (1100GMT).

A farewell ceremony for the Ax-3 team will be held on Friday at 9.50 a.m. ET (0250GMT), according to information obtained by Anadolu from Türkiye's Industry and Technology Ministry.

The ceremony will be broadcast live on Axiom Space's social media accounts.

The journey back to Earth will take 12 hours.

The planned landing is expected to take place at one of seven potential sites in the Atlantic Ocean, east of the US state of Florida, and the Gulf of Mexico to the west.

The Ax-3 mission launched on Jan. 18 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket of private space company SpaceX, and docked with the International Space Station on Jan. 19.

The crew was responsible for conducting over 30 scientific experiments.

*Writing and contributions by Gokhan Ergocun