Four crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, concluding an eight-month stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The crew returned safely after spending nearly eight months in orbit, conducting numerous scientific experiments and spacewalks.
The team, which included two NASA astronauts, one European Space Agency astronaut, and one Russian cosmonaut, was aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that descended into the ocean off the coast of Los Angeles. The return journey began approximately 45 minutes before touchdown, with the spacecraft traveling at orbital speeds of around 17,500 mph.
As the capsule re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, its ablative heat shield withstood temperatures reaching up to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit. After slowing to a few hundred miles per hour over roughly half an hour, four orange-and-white parachutes deployed, guiding the spacecraft to a gentle landing at just 16 mph above the water.
The Crew-12 mission marked the 20th time SpaceX has launched humans into orbit. The crew lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in February aboard a Falcon 9 rocket and docked with the ISS the following day.
During their mission, the crew conducted dozens of scientific experiments and research studies, including investigations into stem cells, crystal growth in microgravity, and bone loss in space. Outside the station, NASA astronaut Jessica Meir conducted four spacewalks totaling just over 27 hours, performing maintenance and upgrades on the orbital outpost. ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot also participated in three spacewalks.
Upon the Crew-12 team’s departure, they were relieved by the Crew-13 astronauts, who arrived at the ISS last week to begin a six-month rotation. Crew-13 includes NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.
The Crew-12 mission commanders were NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, alongside mission specialists Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency and Andrey Fedyaev of Russia’s Roscosmos.
Did anyone else notice that this crew includes both ESA and Roscosmos members? Diplomacy in orbit still matters.
Seventeen thousand miles per hour and they land at sixteen? The precision engineering here is absolutely mind-blowing.
Twenty crewed flights now! SpaceX is really becoming the backbone of human spaceflight. Impressive reliability.