Four astronauts returned to Earth on after hustling to the International space Station five months ago to relieve the stuck test pilots of Boeing’s Starliner.
Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the Pacific off the Southern California coast a day after departing the orbiting lab.
An international crew of four astronauts is back home on Earth after nearly five months aboard the International Space Station, returning safely in a SpaceX capsule.
The spacecraft carrying US astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov splashed down off California’s coast at 8:44 am local time (1534 GMT).
Their return marks the end of the 10th crew rotation mission to the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which was created to succeed the Space Shuttle era by partnering with private industry.
The Dragon capsule of billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX company detached from the International Space Station (ISS) at 2215 GMT on Friday.
When these capsules reenter Earth’s atmosphere, they heat up to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,925 Celsius), according to NASA.
Atmospheric reentry — then the deployment of huge parachutes when the capsule gets closer to Earth — slows its speed from 17,500 miles (28,100 kilometers ) per hour to just 16 miles per hour.
After the capsule splashed down, it was recovered by a SpaceX ship and hoisted aboard.
Only then were the astronauts able to breathe Earth’s air again, for the first time in months.
The crew will now fly to Houston to be reunited with their families
They conducted numerous scientific experiments during their time on the space station, including studying plant growth, how cells react to gravity, and the effect of microgravity on human eyes.
NASA acting Administrator Sean Duffy praised the successful mission.
“Our crew missions are the building blocks for long-duration, human exploration pushing the boundaries of what’s possible,” he said in a NASA statement.
