NASA's Crew-12 returns to Earth after eight months in space

Three astronauts and one cosmonaut of NASA's Crew-12 mission returned to Earth on Thursday 8 October, splashing down in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule in the Pacific Ocean, according to NPR. NPR placed the splashdown off the coast of Los Angeles, California. Euronews placed it off the coast of San Diego, California, at 5:35 p.m. French time. The crew was commander Jessica Meir and pilot Jack Hathaway of NASA, ESA mission specialist Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, whom Euronews spelled Andrei Fediaiev.

NPR reported the trip lasted almost eight months. Euronews reported Adenot spent 235 days about 400 kilometres above Earth, and 237 days elsewhere in its article. Crew-12 lifted off in February on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and docked with the station the next day, according to NPR. NPR said it was the 20th time SpaceX had sent humans into orbit.

NASA said the crew completed dozens of science experiments, including studies of stem cells, crystal growth in space and bone loss in microgravity — the weightless conditions of orbit — according to NPR. Meir conducted four spacewalks totaling just over 27 hours for maintenance and upgrades, NPR reported. Adenot performed three spacewalks, on 18 and 25 August and 1 September, according to Euronews. Euronews said she became the first French woman to venture into the vacuum of space.

Euronews reported Adenot now holds the record for the longest European spaceflight, previously held by Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano with 201 days in orbit in 2019-2020. Euronews said she became the second Frenchwoman to cross the Karman line, the internationally recognised boundary between the atmosphere and outer space, 30 years after Claudie Haigneré. Euronews described her as the eleventh French astronaut.

NPR reported the trip home began about 45 minutes before splashdown, at an orbital speed of 17,500 mph. The capsule's heat shield faced temperatures of up to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit during reentry, and four parachutes then slowed it to 16 mph above the ocean, according to NPR. After a brief medical check-up, the four were to be flown to Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego and then to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, according to Euronews. Euronews said an ESA medical team will take charge of Adenot on the flight to Cologne, Germany, where she will begin a recovery programme lasting several weeks.

NPR reported the Crew-12 members were relieved by the three astronauts and one cosmonaut of Crew-13, who arrived at the station last week to start a six-month rotation. At a pre-departure news conference on the station last month, Meir said she could not wait to be reunited with her 3 1/2-year-old daughter, NPR reported. She said she looked forward to "seeing nature again, feeling the breeze on my face, the wind rustling through the leaves," and said she would miss weightlessness and the views of Earth, according to NPR.