A four-member international astronaut team returned safely to Earth on Thursday after spending 237 days aboard the International Space Station.
The astronauts completed a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast. The SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom touched down in its designated landing zone at 1534 GMT, officially ending the crew’s extended scientific mission in orbit.
The Crew-12 team consisted of NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, who commanded the mission, and Jack Hathaway, who served as pilot. They were joined by European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
The astronauts left the space station on Wednesday after arriving there on Feb. 13 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Their return came shortly after the arrival of the Crew-13 replacement team, which was launched on Oct. 1.
Speaking about future US space exploration, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency remains focused on returning humans to the Moon and establishing a lunar base.
Isaacman told Fox Business that NASA plans to test key technologies on the Moon, including mobility suits, living systems, power infrastructure and communications. He said these capabilities would help prepare for eventual crewed missions to Mars.
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