The return journey made use of SpaceX’s Dragon Endeavour spacecraft, completing Nasa’s second long-duration commercial crew mission to the ISS. The mission set a record for the longest spaceflight by a US-crewed spacecraft of 199 days in orbit, surpassing the 168 days set by Nasa’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission earlier this year.
Nasa astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, alongside JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet returned to Earth in a parachute-assisted splashdown at a landing site in Florida late yesterday evening.
“We’re happy to have Shane, Megan, Aki and Thomas safely back on Earth after another successful, record-setting long-duration mission to the International Space Station,” said Nasa administrator Bill Nelson.
“Congratulations to the teams at Nasa and SpaceX who worked so hard to ensure their successful splashdown. Nasa’s Commercial Crew Program continues...