After nearly eight months in space, the four members of Crew-12 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Thursday returning from their mission to the International Space Station.
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NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway along with European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev launched from Cape Canaveral back in mid-February, and departed the station on board the SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom on Wednesday.
After a 27-hour trip home, the spacecraft slowed from about 17,500 mph for a parachute-assisted landing of to about 16 mph at 11:34 a.m. off the coast of Los Angeles.
“We are so excited to be back on planet Earth after an incredible mission on the International Space Station with all our colleagues and friends,” said Meir after the landing.
Their departure dropped the station population from 11 back to seven including the four new members of Crew-13 that arrived on Oct. 1 after launching from the Space Coast. That includes Central Florida astronaut Luke Delaney who made his first spaceflight. Delaney, 47, grew up in DeBary and attended DeLand and Deltona High School.
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Crew-12 spent 237 days in space. Meir had been station commander for Expedition 75 and handed over command this past week.
Crew-13 will remain on board until next spring while another three space station crew that flew up on a Soyuz this past July are set to remain at the station until April.
The seven remaining crew on board include Delaney’s fellow Crew-13 members, NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos’ Sergey Teteryatnikov. In addition the three members that arrived on a Soyuz include NASA astronaut Anil Menon and cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina.
The space station has been continuously populated for nearly 26 years having first hosted astronauts on Expedition 1 in November 2000.
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