Four astronauts returned to the earth on Saturday after they brought to the International Space Station five months ago to illuminate the regular test pilots of Boeing's Starliner.
Their SpaceX capsule parachuted in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South California a day after leaving the track laboratory.
“Welcome Home”, RaceX Mission Control Radio.
NASAs were splashing were Nasa's Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, the Japanese Takuya Onishi and the Russian Kirill Peskov. They launched in March as replacements for the two NASA astronauts assigned to the failed Demo of Starliner.
Starliner disturbances kept Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams in the space station instead of a week. NASA ordered Boeing's new crewcapsule to return empty and switched the couple to SpaceX. They left shortly after McClain and her crew arrived to take their place. Wilmore has since retired at NASA.
Before he left the space station on Friday, McClain noted “Some tumultuous times on earth” with people who struggled.
“We want this mission, our mission, a memory of what people can do when we work together, when we explore together,” she said.
McClain looked forward to “not doing anything for a few days” once at home in Houston. High on the wish list of her crew members: hot showers and juicy hamburgers.
It was SpaceX's third Pacific Splashdown with people on board, but the first for a NASA crew in 50 years. Earlier this year, the company of Elon Musk changed from Capsule returns from Florida to the coast of California to reduce the risk that debris will fall in populated areas. Back-to-back private crews were the first to experience Pacific Homecomings.
The last time NASA Astronauts returned to the Pacific Ocean from space during the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission, a détentent meeting of Americans and Soviets in a job.
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