SpaceX splashdown: ISS astronauts return after 5 months; Nasa’s first Pacific landing in 50 years

This picture supplied by NASA exhibits, from left, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 members JAXA

Four astronauts have safely returned to Earth after spending 5 months aboard the (*50*)International house station(*50*) (ISS). Their SpaceX capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California on Saturday, a day after leaving the orbiting laboratory.Nasa’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi, and Russia’s Kirill Peskov launched in March to interchange the 2 Nasa astronauts stranded on Boeing’s Starliner following its failed take a look at mission. “Welcome home,” Mission Control at SpaceX radioed because the capsule parachuted into the water.Starliner’s malfunctions compelled Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to stay in orbit for greater than 9 months as an alternative of a deliberate week. Nasa finally ordered the capsule to return empty, transferring the pair to a SpaceX flight. Wilmore has since retired from Nasa.Before departure on Friday, McClain stated, “We want this mission, our mission, to be a reminder of what people can do when we work together, when we explore together.” She stated she was wanting ahead to “doing nothing for a couple of days” in Houston, whereas her crewmates hoped for decent showers and burgers.This was SpaceX’s first (*50*)Nasa crew splashdown(*50*) in the Pacific in 50 years, with Elon Musk’s firm shifting returns from Florida to California earlier this yr to scale back particles dangers. The final Nasa astronauts to land in the Pacific have been a part of the 1975 (*50*)Apollo-Soyuz mission(*50*), a historic joint effort between the US and the Soviet Union.