Two NASA astronauts are returning from outer space to visit their families in Texas after Harvey wreaked havoc on the state over the past week.
Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer will finally be putting their feet on solid ground on Saturday after the two have been at the International Space Station for months.
The astronauts have loved ones that live in Houston, which was hit hard by Harvey’s floodwaters, and are making a trip back to Earth just to see them.
It’s an early return home for Fischer and Whitson, who spent the past 288 days in space, and the two should be back in Houston by Sunday night.
Peggy Whitson (left) and Jack Fischer (right) will finally be putting their feet on solid ground on Saturday after the two have been at the International Space Station for months
The two astronauts have loved ones that live in Houston, which was hit hard by Harvey’s floodwaters (pictured), and are making a trip back to Earth to see them
The astronaut’s Soyuz capsule is expected to land in Kazakhstan late Saturday, U.S. time.
Because of the effects of Hurricane Harvey, NASA could not get its plane from Houston to Kazakhstan in time for the crew’s landing.
Instead, the European Space Agency offered to transport Whitson and Fischer to Cologne, Germany, where they will meet up with the NASA plane for the final leg of their journey.
Whitson will be seeing her husband Clarence Sams, who is a biochemist at Johnson Space Center in Houston, reported ABC News.
Whitson’s 665 days off the planet — with nearly 300 days on this mission alone — exceeds that of any other American and any other woman worldwide.
She’s returning with multiple other records: world’s oldest spacewoman, at age 57, and most experienced female spacewalker, with 10. She also became the first woman to command the space station twice following her launch last November.
The two astronauts have spent months at the International Space Station. Whitson has spent 288 days in space on her most recent mission and Fischer has been in space since April
Fischer is a space newcomer, with 136 days aloft and flew up in April.
He is from the Houston area and wrote on Twitter on Wednesday: ‘Harvey fills the window creating a path of destruction as it traverses the Gulf. Praying for the people there and hoping for sunshine.’
NASA’s headquarters for human spaceflight operation is based in the nation’s fourth largest city and took ‘significant’ damage but remained operational, reported CNN.
The two Americans left the space station, along with Russian Fyodor Yurchikhin.
Before retreating into their Soyuz, they embraced the three colleagues they were leaving behind. Yurchikhin patted the inside of the station before floating into his Soyuz for the final time.
Three men remain at the space station: Bresnik, a Russian and an Italian. They will be joined by two Americans and a Russian following liftoff from Kazakhstan on September 12.
Whitson’s 665 days off the planet — with nearly 300 days on this mission alone — exceeds that of any other American and any other woman worldwide
In this image from video made available by NASA, departing astronaut Whitson hugs Paolo Nespoli aboard the International Space Station during preparations for a return to Earth
The station’s newest commander, Randy Bresnik, noted the outpost was losing 1,474 days of spaceflight experience with the departure of Whitson, Yurchikhin and Fischer. Four years and two weeks, he pointed out.
‘We are in your debt for the supreme dedication that you guys have to the human mission of exploration,’ Bresnik told them on the eve of their departure. He offered up special praise for Whitson — ‘American space ninja’ — and wished them all Godspeed.
Whitson was supposed to fly back in June. But when an extra seat opened up on this Soyuz, she jumped at the chance to stay in orbit an extra three months. Only one other American — yearlong spaceman Scott Kelly — has spent longer in space on a single mission.
Except for the past week, Whitson said her mission hurried by. She’s hungry for pizza and can’t wait to use a regular flush toilet again.