Crew-12 returns to Earth after eight months in space

Four space station crew members splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off Los Angeles on Thursday, ending a 237-day mission that took them nearly 101 million miles around Earth.

NASA commander Jessica Meir and pilot Jack Hathaway returned aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule Freedom with European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. They had undocked from the International Space Station the day before, according to CBS News.

The capsule fired its thrusters at 10:46 a.m. Eastern time to leave orbit, then plunged into the atmosphere behind a heat shield that faced temperatures of up to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit, NPR reported. Parachutes slowed the spacecraft for its 11:34 a.m. splashdown about 50 miles west of Los Angeles, according to CBS News. The two outlets put its speed on reaching the water at 15 to 16 mph.

A SpaceX recovery team moved in to secure the capsule and bring it aboard the company’s ship Shannon. Flight surgeons were ready to examine the crew as they began readjusting to gravity. All four were to fly ashore by helicopter before traveling to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for physical therapy and rehabilitation, CBS News reported.

The mission launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 13 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. NPR described it as the 20th time SpaceX had sent humans into orbit. The crew docked with the station the next day and spent nearly eight months carrying out research and maintaining the orbital outpost.

NASA said the crew completed dozens of experiments and research projects, including studies of stem cells, crystal growth in space and bone loss in microgravity, according to NPR. CBS News reported that Crew-12 completed 3,792 orbits and four spacewalks. NPR reported that Meir conducted four spacewalks totaling just over 27 hours and Adenot performed three, giving a different account of the spacewalk activity.

Crew-12 welcomed another Soyuz crew in July and its Crew-13 replacements earlier this month. The four members of Crew-13 — NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov — arrived on Oct. 1 and plan to stay six months, CBS News reported. Also aboard the station are Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina and NASA astronaut Anil Menon, who launched from Kazakhstan on July 14 for an eight-month stay.

Before leaving orbit, Meir said she most looked forward to seeing her 3½-year-old daughter. She also missed being outdoors: “I’m so looking forward to seeing nature again, feeling the breeze on my face, the wind rustling through the leaves.” She said she would miss weightlessness and the views of Earth.

Hathaway had a simpler pleasure in mind alongside seeing his family. “A hot shower is near the top of my list,” he said.