Crew-12 Astronauts Return Safely After 237 Days in Space

NASA’s four-member Crew-12 returned safely to Earth on October 8, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean after a 237-day mission aboard the International Space Station. The astronauts returned in a SpaceX Dragon capsule, ending a stay that had lasted nearly eight months. The crew consisted of NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot of France, and Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos. The capsule splashed down off the California coast, where recovery teams retrieved the spacecraft and helped the astronauts out. NASA reported that the crew was in good condition. Crew-12 left the station on October 7 and completed a return journey of more than a day. The mission’s homecoming had been delayed by three weeks because of capsule repairs, according to reports. The replacement crew reached the station before Crew-12 departed, allowing the orbiting laboratory to continue operating with astronauts aboard. During the mission, the astronauts conducted research and station maintenance.