The beautiful parachute gently slowing the Soyuz MS-15 crewed capsule was perhaps a reminder to those wanting a prompt lifting of coronavirus lockdown measures that it is only safe to remove your parachute once a safe landing has been achieved. The Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 0152 GMT on 17 April 2020. Aboard were NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir, along with the Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka.
The spacecraft’s deorbit burn and re-entry at 0453 GMT went as planned, as did deployment of the capsule parachutes. With its last-second braking rockets firing, the capsule touched down at 0516 GMT about 144 km from Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. The crew returns to a world changed by the Covid-19 outbreak and were recovered by a specially quarantined rescue helicopter crew.
