UPDATE - Space capsule carrying Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish astronauts closes hatch to return to Earth

UPDATING WITH DETAILS, REVISING HEADLINE, LEDE

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The hatch of a space capsule carrying Turkish, Spanish, Italian, and Swedish space travelers on board closed on Wednesday as part of maneuvers to undock from the International Space Station, then homeward bound to Earth.

After the hatch closed at 7.25 a.m. Eastern Time (1225GMT), the SpaceX Dragon capsule – carrying the four-person Axiom-3 Mission crew, who have spent over two weeks in Earth orbit – is expected to undock at 9.20 a.m. ET (1420GMT).

After the undocking phase, the capsule will leave orbit and re-enter the atmosphere.

As it approaches the Earth’s watery surface, the capsule will deploy its parachutes before splashdown.

The return process is expected to conclude in around 47 hours, or on Friday morning, Eastern Time in the US.

The mission was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 19 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The Ax-3 space mission crew docked at the International Space Station the next day, Jan. 20.

During their over two-week stay on the station, Turkish Air Force pilot Col. Alper Gezeravci and his three crewmates from Spain, Italy, and Sweden were responsible for carrying out over 30 scientific experiments, about half of them by Gezeravci himself.

The crew’s scheduled return has been postponed several times due to bad weather.