The four-member crew of NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 mission returned to Earth on Thursday following an eight-month stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft undocked from the ISS on Wednesday morning and completed a 27-hour journey before splashing down safely off the coast of Los Angeles, California.
The returning international crew includes NASA astronauts Jessica Meir (mission commander) and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. All four were assisted out of the capsule by recovery personnel.
Launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on February 13, the team spent 237 days in orbit conducting scientific research and technology demonstrations. During the expedition, Adenot made history as the first French female astronaut to complete a spacewalk, performing three orbital walks.
Four replacement crew members arrived at the station last week for a six-month tenure. The ISS continuously inhabited for a quarter-century is scheduled to be decommissioned and deorbited into the ocean around 2030.
