California: Four astronauts from NASA, Japan, and Russia have safely returned to Earth after completing a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The crew—NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi, and Russia’s Kirill Peskov—landed in the Pacific Ocean near Southern California, marking a historic return.
Their SpaceX Dragon capsule's splashdown was the company’s third crewed Pacific recovery and the first time NASA astronauts have landed in the Pacific in 50 years, the previous being the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission.
The mission was launched in March to replace NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who remained on the ISS for over nine months after Boeing’s Starliner test flight failure left them stranded. Wilmore has since retired, and NASA reassigned the pair to a SpaceX mission that returned them safely.
Before leaving the ISS, McClain emphasized the importance of international collaboration in space exploration, expressing hope that their mission would inspire cooperation on Earth. Upon landing, the crew looked forward to rest and simple pleasures like hot showers and good food.
Earlier this year, SpaceX moved its capsule recovery operations from Florida to California to reduce risks from falling debris, successfully supporting both private and NASA missions with Pacific splashdowns.
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