Overview
- SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Freedom splashed down in the Pacific off Los Angeles on Thursday, Oct. 8, returning NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
- The crew ended a 237‑day expedition that logged more than 3,792 orbits and about 100 million miles and included multiple spacewalks that advanced station maintenance and upgrades.
- Recovery teams secured Dragon aboard the SpaceX ship Shannon, performed initial medical checks on board, and flew the astronauts to Houston for rehabilitation and a planned NASA debriefing on Oct. 15.
- Crew‑12 brought back hundreds of hours of research, including stem cell production tests, on‑demand IV fluid demonstrations and studies of pneumonia‑causing bacteria linked to heart damage.
- Station operations continue with Crew‑13 aboard and upcoming cargo movements scheduled to deliver hardware and supplies that sustain the ISS and support near‑term exploration goals.