Astronauts return to Earth with Pacific splashdown following 5-month ISS mission

[ad_1] 4 crew members who flew to the Worldwide House Station (ISS) earlier this yr to alleviate two astronauts who had been left stranded by a beleaguered area capsule returned to Earth on Saturday.

NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, together with Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov, splashed down within the Pacific off the coast of Southern California on Saturday morning at 11:33 a.m. ET in a SpaceX capsule.

It was the primary Pacific splashdown for NASA in 50 years, and the third for SpaceX with individuals on board.

NASA astronauts final splashed down within the Pacific in 1975, throughout the Apollo-Soyuz mission, the primary crewed worldwide area mission that concerned People and Soviets.

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A SpaceX capsule carrying 4 crew members parachutes into the Pacific Ocean off the Southern California coast on Saturday. (Keegan Barber/NASA by way of AP)

The crew launched in March, changing Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who had been left caught on the area station for 9 months on what was meant to be a week-long mission after the Boeing Starliner they arrived in suffered thruster issues and helium leaks.

NASA concluded returning them to Earth within the capsule was too dangerous, so the Starliner flew again crewless, and Wilmore and Williams got here dwelling in a SpaceX capsule in March after their replacements arrived.

Wilmore announced his retirement after 25 years with NASA this week.

"We wish this mission, our mission, to be a reminder of what individuals can do once we work collectively, once we discover collectively," McClain stated earlier than leaving the area station on Friday, mentioning "some tumultuous occasions on Earth."

NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 members JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Company) astronaut Takuya Onishi, NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, posing earlier than they returned to Earth for a portrait contained in the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft that carried them to the Worldwide House Station. (NASA by way of AP)

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She stated she was wanting ahead to "doing nothing for a few days" as soon as again dwelling, and her crewmates had been enthusiastic about scorching showers and burgers.

Earlier this yr, SpaceX determined to modify their splashdowns from Florida to California to cut back the danger of particles falling on populated areas.

After exiting the spacecraft, the crew obtained medical checks earlier than being flown by way of helicopter to fulfill up with a NASA plane sure for Houston.

"Total, the mission went nice, glad to have the crew again," Steve Stich, supervisor of NASA’s Industrial Crew Program, stated in a press convention after splashdown. "SpaceX did an ideal job of recovering the crew once more on the West Coast."

Crew members contained in the area capsule after splashdown. (Keegan Barber/NASA by way of Getty Photos)

Dina Contella, deputy supervisor for NASA's Worldwide House Station program, added that she was "fairly glad to see the Crew 10 workforce again on Earth. They appeared nice, and they're doing nice."