Four members of the Expedition 68 crew are approaching the end of their stay on the International Space Station (ISS) this weekend. Their backups are completing their first week at the orbital outpost and gaining momentum in life in space.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endurance, carrying a crew of four, is scheduled to leave the space station at 2:05 ET on Saturday and return to Earth less than 24 hours later. NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada will command and pilot Endurance, along with Koichi Wakata from JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Anna Kikina from Roscosmos, respectively. The quartet is expected to land on the Florida coast at 21:19 on Saturday.

From left, Expedition 68 flight engineers Anna Kikina of Roscosmos, Josh Kassada and Nicole Mann of NASA, and Koichi Wakata of JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) pose for a playful portrait inside the International Space Station’s Kibo Laboratory Module gives. Credit: NASA

The quad was launched to the orbiting laboratory as a SpaceX Crew-5 mission on October 5, 2022, and docked in the forward port of the Harmony module on October 6. Various crews and space cargo ships have arrived and departed, numerous spacewalks have been undertaken, and many advanced space explorations have been made during Crew-5’s five-month stay in space.