Four astronauts splash down on Earth after eight months in space

Crew 12 spent 235 days aboard the ISS, conducting scientific research before they were replaced by Crew 13 at the beginning of October.

Four astronauts returned to Earth from the International Space Station in a scenic splashdown Thursday morning in the Pacific Ocean off the Southern California coast.

The SpaceX crew capsule deployed its giant parachutes high above the ocean to slow its descent, landing in the water at about 8:35 a.m. PT. The capsule was carrying NASA astronauts Jessica Meir (commander) and Jack Hathaway (pilot), European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot (mission specialist) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev (mission specialist).

Boats were heading toward the capsule to recover the crew members and the capsule. Once aboard the recovery vessel, crew members will board a helicopter for the journey to the mainland.

The crew aboard the Freedom capsule, known as Crew 12, launched from Florida Feb. 13. They spent 235 days aboard the ISS, conducting scientific research that included testing stem cell production, studying how spaceflight affected blood flow, preparing for deep space exploration, seeing how protein crystals grow in space, microgravity's affects on bone density and testing a new prototype space suit.

Crew 12 was replaced by Crew 13, which includes commander Jessica Watkins and her crew. Crew 13's stay will last a six months, but the flight to the ISS was the quickest yet for SpaceX and NASA due in large part to the station's location when the astronauts launched.

Watkins became the first Black woman to lead a crew to orbit. A geologist who worked with NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity a decade ago, Watkins is making her second trip to the space station following a lengthy stay in 2022.

The others are newcomers to space: NASA’s Luke Delaney, a retired Marine; Canada’s Joshua Kutryk, a colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force; and Russia’s Sergey Teteryatnikov, a former submariner. They will replace four astronauts who have been living at the orbiting laboratory since February.

This was the 13th crew launched by SpaceX for NASA, not counting 2020's test flight.