Space station astronauts return to Earth after 5-month mission

International Crew Returns to Earth After Five-Month Space Mission

A multinational team of astronauts, cosmonauts, and a Japanese space agency (JAXA) participant safely returned to Earth on Saturday, concluding a five-month assignment aboard the International Space Station. The crew, comprising NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean approximately west of San Diego at 11:33 a.m. EDT. Their descent occurred 17 and a half hours after undocking from the orbital laboratory.

The quartet traveled aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endurance capsule, which was quickly secured by support vessels following splashdown for transport to a recovery ship. Upon hatch opening, crew members underwent initial medical assessments as they reacclimated to Earth’s gravity after 148 days in microgravity. All four appeared healthy and were reportedly in good spirits. A helicopter transported the returning explorers to shore, where a NASA aircraft awaited to fly them to the Johnson Space Center in Houston for further evaluations.

The planned departure from the International Space Station had been delayed by two days due to adverse wind conditions impacting the California coastline. The Crew 10 mission undocked at 6:15 p.m. Friday, after spending several hours maneuvering away from the station. Prior to their return journey, McClain and her colleagues dedicated four days to familiarizing the incoming crew with space station operations before officially bidding farewell.

This marks the first NASA-supported Crew Dragon mission to conclude with a Pacific Ocean splashdown. Previous flights of this type have traditionally ended with landings off Florida’s coast. The shift in landing location was initiated by SpaceX as a precautionary measure, ensuring that discarded components from the capsule’s trunk section, jettisoned prior to re-entry, fall harmlessly into the ocean, away from populated areas. Two earlier commercial Crew Dragon missions had previously utilized this Pacific splashdown procedure.

Currently residing on board the International Space Station are the replacement crew: Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, Kimiya Yui, and Oleg Platonov of Crew 11, alongside Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritsky, and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim.