An international team of four astronauts safely returned to Earth on Saturday after spending nearly five months aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Their journey back was completed in a SpaceX Dragon capsule, which splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California at 8:44 am local time (8:34 pm PKT).
The returning crew included NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. Their mission concluded the 10th crew rotation under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, a partnership with private industry to replace the retired Space Shuttle fleet.
The Dragon capsule, built by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, separated from the ISS at 2215 GMT (3:15 am PKT) on Friday. Over the next 17 hours, it made a fiery descent through Earth’s atmosphere, slowed first by atmospheric drag and then by the deployment of large parachutes before making a smooth ocean landing. A recovery ship retrieved the capsule and lifted it aboard, allowing the astronauts to breathe fresh air for the first time in months.
During their stay on the ISS, the Crew-10 team carried out a variety of scientific experiments, including research on plant growth in space and studying how cells respond to microgravity.
This mission also played a role in helping two US astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, return home after being unexpectedly stranded on the ISS for nine months. Their extended stay was caused by propulsion issues in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which had originally been intended for an eight-day test flight in June 2024. Due to the malfunction, the Starliner was deemed unfit for the return journey.
Earlier this week, NASA announced that Butch Wilmore will retire after 25 years with the space agency.
Meanwhile, the ISS welcomed a fresh team last week — NASA’s Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui, and Russia’s Oleg Platonov — who have embarked on a six-month mission in orbit.
