The SpaceX Dragon capsule Grace, carrying the Ax-4 crew—including Polish astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski—safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California at approximately 11:30 a.m. Polish time, concluding its mission as scheduled.

As the spacecraft re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, communication was temporarily lost during what is known as the “blackout period” , a brief window, from around 11:18 to 11:25 a.m. Polish time, when the intense heat of re-entry creates a sheath of ionised plasma around the capsule, disrupting radio signals. This phenomenon was explained during the live broadcast by commentator Jessie Anderson.

The capsule landed precisely in a designated recovery zone near San Diego. Rescue teams aboard nearby vessels were on standby to secure the capsule and transfer it to the MV Shannon, a recovery ship operated by SpaceX. 

Once on deck, the Dragon’s hatch was opened, and the crew disembarked.

Following recovery, the astronauts will be airlifted by helicopter to the mainland for preliminary medical examinations. Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski will then board a plane bound for Europe, heading to Cologne, Germany, home to the European Astronaut Centre of the European Space Agency (ESA). There, he will begin post-mission assessments at the German Aerospace Centre’s (DLR) Envihab facility.

Source: PAP

Photo: X/@PManiewski

Tomasz Modrzejewski