Space
Four astronauts splashed down off California.
SpaceX brought Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot, and Andrey Fedyaev home on Thursday after eight months. They had gone up in February to replace a crew sent home when a NASA astronaut fell ill.
The Rocket News · Science Desk · Los AngelesOctober 9, 2026 · 3 min read
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Four astronauts returned to Earth on Thursday from the International Space Station, the Associated Press reported, after eight months in orbit. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Freedom splashed down in the Pacific off Los Angeles. Aboard were NASA’s Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, France’s Sophie Adenot, and Russia’s Andrey Fedyaev. “We are so excited to be back on Planet Earth after an incredible mission on the International Space Station,” Meir radioed after splashdown.
They had launched in February to replace four station residents sent home early after one of them, NASA’s Mike Fincke, now retired, fell ill. The Associated Press said it was the first medical evacuation in 65 years of NASA’s human spaceflight. Their replacements arrived three weeks late because the capsule needed repairs, and this crew’s ride home waited on that. While still in orbit, Meir said the crew had mixed feelings and would miss the view of the planet.
We are so excited to be back on Planet Earth after an incredible mission.
The photograph is NASA’s frame of Freedom hitting the water on Thursday, parachutes open. It is not a portrait of the crew on the ship. The Science desk files the splashdown.
Wire and further reading: ny1.com
Filed under Science
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