ISS astronauts return to Earth after 6-month mission on space
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Photo courtesy: Reuters
Four astronauts aboard a SpaceX Dragon Crew capsule returned to Earth early Sunday, splashing down off Panama City early Sunday, a NASA livestream showed.
Boats were retrieving the spacecraft and crew after their six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.
The crew reported they were feeling well, NASA said.
The capsule splashed down at 2:56 am (0656 GMT) in the dark in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast after a six-and-a-half hour flight from the ISS, images relayed by NASA s WB-57 high-altitude research aircraft showed.
Astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Japan´s Soichi Noguchi went to space last November as the crew on the first fully operational mission to the ISS aboard a vehicle made by Elon Musk s SpaceX, which has become NASA s favored commercial transportation partner.
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A SPACEX capsule carrying four astronauts has safely landed in the Gulf of Mexico after departing the International Space Station late Saturday.
The landing marks the end of their five-month mission as they returned to Earth in a rare late-night splashdown.
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The landing marks the end of their five-month mission as they returned to Earth in a rare late-night splashdownCredit: AP
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SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts (L-R) Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, Michael Hopkins and Soichi NoguchiCredit: AFP
It is the first US splashdown in darkness since Apollo 8′s crew returned from the moon in 1968 - and only the third in history.