NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near Los Angeles on Thursday after 237 days aboard the International Space Station. The four crew members traveled more than 100 million miles and circled Earth more than 3,792 times during their mission.
The returning crew included NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. Their spacecraft touched down at 8:34 a.m. PDT, and SpaceX recovery teams brought the astronauts and capsule aboard specialized vessels.
The crew launched on Feb. 13 and docked with the space station the following day. For Meir and Fedyaev, the mission marked their second spaceflight. Hathaway and Adenot completed their first space missions.
During their stay, Crew-12 conducted hundreds of hours of research. One project explored stem cell production in space for potential medical treatments. Another demonstrated technology capable of producing IV fluids on demand, which could support long-duration missions far from Earth. The astronauts also investigated how bacteria may contribute to heart damage and studied nutrition and blood flow in microgravity.
Meir completed four spacewalks during the mission, bringing her career total to seven and placing her third among NASA women for most career spacewalks. Adenot completed three spacewalks, becoming the first French woman to venture outside the space station.