 "This photo provided by NASA shows the Starliner spacecraft docked to the Harmony module of the International Space Station, orbiting 262 miles above Egypt's Mediterranean coast, on June 13, 2024. File Photo/AP")
A SpaceX capsule safely splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday off the Florida coast, returning four astronauts to Earth after an extended eight-month stay at the International Space Station.
The crew, comprising three Americans and one Russian, had initially been scheduled to return two months earlier. However, their re-entry was delayed due to issues with Boeing’s Starliner capsule, which had been intended for their return but was grounded in September over safety concerns.
Further delays ensued when Hurricane Milton and subsequent adverse weather conditions forced a two-week postponement. The astronauts finally undocked from the space station mid-week, paving the way for their pre-dawn landing on Friday.
SpaceX launched the four — NASA’s Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, and Russia’s Alexander Grebenkin — in March. Barratt, the only space veteran going into the mission, acknowledged the support teams back home that had “to replan, retool and kind of redo everything right along with us … and helped us to roll with all those punches.”
Their replacements are the two Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose own mission went from eight days to eight months, and two astronauts launched by SpaceX four weeks ago. Those four will remain up there until February.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe space station is now back to its normal crew size of seven — four Americans and three Russians — after months of overflow.
With inputs from agencies.