Splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico closed out a 199-day mission spanning 3,184 orbits and 84.4 million miles.
Closing out a six-month stay at the International Space Station, a three-man, one-woman crew plunged back to Earth early Tuesday, streaking across the heartland of America like a blazing meteor as their Crew Dragon capsule descended to a Gulf of Mexico splashdown.Suspended beneath four huge parachutes, the Crew Dragon 'Endurance' settled to a gentle walking pace touchdown south of Pensacola, Florida, at 5:47 a.m. EDT, closing out a 199-day mission spanning 3,184 orbits and 84.
As with all Crew Dragon returns, the crew was expected to be flown to shore by helicopter, boarding a waiting NASA aircraft for a flight back to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.Left behind aboard the space station were their replacements, Crew 8 commander Matthew Dominick, co-pilot Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps and cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin along with Soyuz crewmates Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub and NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara.