SpaceX’s Crew-8 Returns to Earth with NASA Astronauts After 7 Months in Space

SpaceX’s Dragon rocket Endeavour returned to Earth carrying Crew-8—with three American and one Russian astronauts—after over 7 months—235 days—in Space this Friday morning.

According to the Associated Press, the capsule with the crew undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this week and splashed into the Gulf of Mexico today before dawn, near Pensacola, Florida.

The crew’s return had been delayed two months but multiple circumstances interfered with the schedule. The original capsule destined for their return presented technical issues and then weather conditions due to Hurricane Milton raised concerns, making the crews postpone their travel plans until safer guidelines were reached this week.

According to Forbes, NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Michael Barratt, and Russia’s space agency Roscomos’s astronaut Alexander Grebenkin had arrived in March to the ISS. Crew-8 represents SpaceX’s 13th crewed mission and the 8th time NASA relies on SpaceX rockets.

The crew’s mission was to conduct over 200 science experiments and help prepare for more human exploration. Crew-9 is already in space—it was launched with the ship that just brought Crew-8—and more missions are expected: Crew-10 will launch in February, and Crew-11 after July 2025.

NASA shared a live video of Crew-8’s arrival this morning, which lasted over two hours, and showed the process of the astronauts getting back to Earth, the multiple parachutes slowing down the Dragon spacecraft, and the splashdown in the gulf. Over 5 million users watched and reacted to the video.

LIVE: #Crew8 returns home from their mission on the @Space_Station. Splashdown of the @SpaceX Dragon capsule is expected at 3:29am ET (0729 UTC). https://t.co/PdNQljsPoG

— NASA (@NASA) October 25, 2024