After weather delayed the return of four astronauts who launched from Kennedy Space Center in April, Crew-4 came home and splashed down off Florida’s coast.
Crew-4 returned on a SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft after spending six months in space, undocking from the International Space Station Friday just after noon.
Splashdown in the Atlantic off the Jacksonville coast happened at 4:55 p.m.
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Crew-4 is made up of NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, Jessica Watkins and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. This NASA crew is the first to be comprised equally of men and women, including the first Black woman making a long-term spaceflight, Watkins.
‘’I am just really honored to be a part of the long legacy of Black astronauts and Black women astronauts who came before me,’’ Watkins said before the launch.
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The crew conducted scientific research in areas such as materials science, health technologies and plant science, according to NASA.
Last week, Crew-5 launched in Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Endurance, and docked at the space station to spend several months conducting more research. Crew-5 is made up of NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, astronaut Koichi Wakata, of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and cosmonaut Anna Kikina, of Roscosmos.
The launch marked the first time in 20 years that a Russian cosmonaut rocketed from the U.S., launching alongside NASA and Japanese astronauts despite tensions over the war in Ukraine.