NASA-SpaceX Crew-12 astronauts splash down off California after a 237-day mission on the International Space Station
8 October 2026
A four-member international astronaut crew returned to Earth from the International Space Station on Thursday.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom spacecraft made a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, confirmed at 1534GMT.
The flight concluded a 237-day scientific expedition in orbit.
The returning Crew-12 complement was NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, who served as mission commander, and Jack Hathaway, the mission pilot, with European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
The four astronauts had launched toward the station on Feb. 13 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.
Their return followed the arrival of the replacement Crew-13 mission, which launched on Oct. 1.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said teams aim to validate mobility suits, habitability, power systems and communications on the lunar surface before attempting crewed flights to Mars.
In plain words
ISS International Space Station — A crewed research laboratory in low Earth orbit run jointly by several national space agencies.
Splashdown Landing of a spacecraft on water — A return in which the capsule descends on parachutes and comes down in the sea rather than on land.
ESA European Space Agency — The intergovernmental space agency of European member states, which flies its astronauts on partner vehicles.