US, French, Russian astronauts splash down in Pacific after about eight months on ISS

Four astronauts returned to Earth on Thursday after about eight months aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The crew were NASA's Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, France's Sophie Adenot and Russia's Andrey Fedyaev. They left the station on Wednesday. A SpaceX capsule carried them to a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Los Angeles.

The flight was a NASA/SpaceX mission. Headlines from Anadolu and RT identify the crew as Crew-12, and Anadolu's headline puts the mission at 237 days.

The crew's return was delayed. Their replacement crew arrived three weeks late because of capsule repairs.

The four launched in February. They replaced four station occupants who were sent home early after one of them, NASA's Mike Fincke, fell ill. Fincke has since retired. That early return was NASA's first medical evacuation in 65 years of human spaceflight.

During the mission, Meir took part in four spacewalks and Adenot in three. The work covered maintenance and upgrades to the 28-year-old station. According to France 24, Adenot became the first French woman to walk in space.

France 24 also reported that, two months after their arrival, the crew watched the Artemis II astronauts fly around the Moon. According to the same report, the crew marked the United States' 250th birthday on the station, and Meir played piccolo with the Boston Pops for a Fourth of July concert.

Meir radioed moments after splashdown: "We are so excited to be back on Planet Earth after an incredible mission on the International Space Station," according to France 24. While still in orbit, Meir described the crew as feeling "a lot of mixed, swirling emotions" and said they would miss the "extraordinary views of our home planet," the Guardian reported.

France 24 quoted Hathaway as saying in August, about his moustache: "It's kind of become a little bit of my brand up here, so I don't know if it'll go away right away or I'll end up keeping it for a while."

Seven astronauts, from the US, Russia and Canada, remain aboard the station. By NASA's count, the station has received 298 visitors from 26 countries since 2000.

What the reports do not say

The reports reviewed by Vocemundi do not give the exact time of splashdown or the name of the capsule. They do not describe the crew's medical condition after landing, the nature of Fincke's illness, or which capsule needed repairs and why. They do not include direct statements from NASA, SpaceX, CNES/ESA or Roscosmos.

About the sourcing

Most details in this article trace to a single Associated Press report, carried by France 24 and closely matched by the Guardian's text. Anadolu and RT provided headlines and brief RSS summaries that repeat those headlines, without further detail.

Analysis

The mission shows how closely crew schedules on the ISS depend on each other. A medical evacuation brought this crew up early, and capsule repairs kept them in orbit longer than planned. Both events point to the limited margin in current crew-rotation systems. The spacewalks for maintenance and upgrades also reflect the needs of a 28-year-old station. The mixed US, French and Russian crew, with Canadian, US and Russian astronauts still aboard, indicates that international cooperation on the station continues. The reports attribute the replacement crew's three-week delay to capsule repairs but do not say which capsule was affected or what the problem was, so it is not possible to judge whether similar disruptions are likely in future rotations.

Produced by the Vocemundi newsroom with AI assistance.