Technology
• Analysis
Astronauts Return to Earth: SpaceX Splashes Down US, French and Russian Crew After Eight Months
Four astronauts returned to Earth on Thursday as SpaceX carried France's Sophie Adenot, NASA's Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, and Russia's Andrey Fedyaev home from an eight-month mission on the International Space Station, with a splashdown in the Pacific off the coast of Los Angeles.
By Haut Monde Post
• October 8, 2026
• 2 Min Read
Four astronauts returned to Earth on Thursday when SpaceX brought France's Sophie Adenot, NASA's Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, and Russia's Andrey Fedyaev home from the International Space Station after eight months in orbit. Their ride ended with a splashdown in the Pacific off the coast of Los Angeles.
A delayed ride home
The four departed the orbiting lab on Wednesday, eager to reunite with their families. Their homecoming came later than planned because their replacements arrived three weeks late after capsule repairs.
Eight months of spacewalks and celebrations
The mission carried a full calendar alongside its science and maintenance work.
- •Adenot became the first French woman to walk in space during the mission.
- •Meir took part in four spacewalks, while Adenot ventured outside three times for maintenance and upgrades to the 28-year-old station.
- •Two months into the flight, the crew watched the Artemis II astronauts fly around the moon.
- •Meir joined the Boston Pops with her piccolo for a Fourth of July concert marking the United States' 250th birthday.
- •The crew threw a dance party last month and held regular cooking demonstrations complete with aprons and a chef's toque.
The crew's words and the moustache
After splashdown, Meir radioed the ground.
We are so excited to be back on Planet Earth after an incredible mission on the International Space Station.
While still in orbit, she said the crew had "a lot of mixed, swirling emotions" and would miss the "extraordinary views of our home planet".
Hathaway grew a naval aviator-style moustache before launch to honour his Navy ties, and said in August that it had become part of his brand in orbit. Some ground controllers grew moustaches in solidarity.
How the mission began, and what comes next
Meir and her crewmates left Earth in February to replace four station occupants sent home early after NASA's Mike Fincke, now retired, fell ill. That early return was NASA's first medical evacuation in 65 years of human spaceflight.
Seven astronauts representing the US, Russia and Canada remain aboard the space station, which by NASA's count has welcomed 298 visitors from 26 countries since its doors opened in 2000.
