Official announcements from NASA and SpaceX

SpaceX Crew-8 Astronauts Splash Down Near Pensacola After Record 235-Day ISS Mission

Oct 25, 2024, 07:23 AM

After a delay of over two weeks due to unfavorable weather conditions, NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, have returned to Earth following a record-breaking 235-day, 3-hour, and 35-minute mission aboard the International Space Station. The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, Endeavour, undocked from the ISS on October 24th and re-entered Earth's atmosphere over Mexico, experiencing peak heatshield temperatures of up to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Communications were briefly lost during re-entry due to plasma buildup around the capsule. The capsule deployed its four main parachutes and splashed down off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, at approximately 3:29 a.m. EDT on Friday. The recovery ship Megan was stationed near the splashdown site to retrieve the astronauts, who have been off-world since early March, and assist them with initial medical checks as they begin readjusting to gravity. This mission, known as Crew-8, marks the longest flight by any piloted U.S. spacecraft in the history of the American space program.