Four Space Station Fliers Return to Earth with Pacific Ocean Splashdown

On Saturday, four astronauts from NASA, Japan, and Russia safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, west of San Diego, marking the successful conclusion of a five-month mission to the International Space Station. The crew, consisting of NASA commander Anne McClain, pilot Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, returned to Earth aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endurance.

The crew undocked from the space station at 6:15 p.m. on Friday, two days later than originally planned due to high winds off the southern California coast. After a 17.5-hour journey through Earth's atmosphere, the Crew Dragon splashed down at 11:33 a.m. EDT, 17-and-a-half hours after undocking.

The landing site was chosen to ensure that any debris from the Crew Dragon's trunk section—discarded shortly before re-entry—would fall harmlessly into the Pacific, away from populated areas. This marks the first time a NASA-sponsored Crew Dragon mission has landed in the Pacific Ocean, as previous missions had ended with splashdowns off the Florida coast.

Upon splashdown, SpaceX support crews quickly converged on the capsule to prepare it for transport to a recovery ship. The astronauts were then helped out of the spacecraft for initial medical checks and began readjusting to the pull of gravity after 148 days in space. All four appeared healthy and in good spirits.

A helicopter was on standby to fly the astronauts back to shore, where a NASA plane was waiting to take them to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The crew had also spent four days showing the new crew the ins and outs of space station operations before their departure.

Left behind in orbit were the crew's replacements, Crew 11, including commander Zena Cardman, co-pilot Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. Also on board were Soyuz MS-27/73S commander Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritsky, and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim.

As the Crew Dragon descended, it was lined up for a southwest-to-northeast trajectory toward San Diego. The forward Draco thrusters ignited and fired for over 17 minutes, slowing the craft by about 257 mph. The spacecraft then entered the discernible atmosphere, where it was quickly engulfed in a fireball of atmospheric friction before deploying its main parachutes for a gentle splashdown.

This mission not only marks the end of a successful five-month journey but also highlights the growing international collaboration in space exploration. The return of the Crew 10 astronauts brings a sense of closure to their mission while setting the stage for the next crew's journey into the cosmos.