Four astronauts safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California on Thursday, concluding a 237-day mission aboard the International Space Station after returning in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule named Freedom.
The returning crew included NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, as reported by NASA. Their spacecraft touched down in the Pacific at 8:34 a.m. PDT, wrapping up an extended orbital stay that covered more than 100 million miles across 3,792 orbits of Earth.
SpaceX recovery vessels reached the capsule shortly after splashdown, hoisting the spacecraft aboard.
From Medical Evacuation Relief to Orbit Records
The Crew-12 mission launched on February 13, 2026, lifting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket. Their journey began under unusual circumstances: the quartet had hurried to the station in February to replace four outgoing occupants who were sent home early after NASA astronaut Mike Fincke fell ill.
While in orbit, the astronauts managed a busy schedule of scientific research, maintenance work, and technology tests. Adenot carried out a broad research programme spanning health research, materials science, biology, fluid physics, radiation physics, and fundamental science. She also tested new hardware, including the European exercise device known as E4D and in-orbit metal 3D printing.
Other scientific objectives focused on nutrition, stem cell production in space, and how physical characteristics affect blood flow during long-duration flight. These investigations are designed to help researchers prepare for human exploration of the Moon and Mars.
Spacewalk Milestones and Personal Achievements Aboard the Station
The mission brought notable milestones for several crew members. Meir completed four spacewalks during the mission, bringing her career total to seven. That achievement places her third on the all-time list of spacewalks by women astronauts, behind Peggy Whitson and Sunita Williams.
Alongside demanding technical tasks, the astronauts maintained public engagement. In July, Meir joined the Boston Pops via video link with her piccolo to celebrate the United States’ 250th birthday. Crew members also hosted regular cooking demonstrations and shared lighthearted moments before their departure.
Handover to Crew-13 and Return Travel Plans
Before checking out, Meir transferred command of the station to veteran cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov during a change-of-command ceremony marked by a group hug, or “huggle,” involving the combined crews.
“We will be leaving our friends. But we know that we are going home to our friends, to our families, to all of our team members on the ground. So it’s a lot of mixed, swirling emotions for all of us when one leaves a home like this up on the space station.”
Jessica Meir, Crew-12 commander, via CBS News
The Dragon Freedom capsule undocked from the forward Harmony module of the space station, beginning a 27-hour return transit that concluded with the Pacific splashdown.
Following post-flight processing in Houston, Adenot will travel onward to the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, while NASA officials prepare for a joint news conference scheduled for October 15 at the Johnson Space Center to discuss the mission’s findings.
During their extended orbital stay, the quartet orbited Earth more than 3,792 times, accumulating over 100 million miles of travel while executing biological studies, food production experiments, and health evaluations. The mission marked the second spaceflight for Meir and Fedyaev, while serving as the inaugural orbital voyage for Hathaway and Adenot. Dana Weigel, manager of NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Program at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, emphasized that activities supporting the orbital outpost enable the engineering, science, and risk-reduction required for future human exploration missions across the solar system.
Recovery operations off the coast of Southern California involved joint SpaceX, NASA, ESA, and Roscosmos crews stationed on specialized support vessels. Within minutes of the spacecraft’s parachute-assisted splashdown, fast boat teams reached the Dragon Freedom capsule to conduct initial safety checks. Recovery crews helped the astronauts out of the vehicle and onto stretchers as their vestibular systems began readjusting to Earth’s gravity following more than seven months in weightlessness.
The departure of Crew-12 and the arrival of Crew-13 maintained a brisk pace of traffic at the orbiting laboratory. Crew-13 includes NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins, serving as mission commander, and pilot Luke Delaney, alongside Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. Alongside the newly arrived residents, the station hosts the members of Soyuz MS-29: commander Pyotr Dubrov, cosmonaut Anna Kikina, and NASA astronaut Anil Menon, who launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 14. This incoming group ensures the station’s ongoing complement remains at the standard seven-person level through their respective six-month and eight-month tours of duty.
For Adenot, the conclusion of the mission established a historic duration mark, setting a new record for the longest continuous time spent in space by any European Space Agency astronaut. Her series of extravehicular activities included joint work with Meir, contributing to the total of six all-female spacewalks in the history of the station program. Ground support teams, commercial payload managers, and international space agency leaders expressed widespread praise for the collaborative success of the flight, which successfully validated new in-orbit technologies and cleared the path for upcoming commercial and government resupply operations.
