JACKSONVILLE, Florida – SpaceX’s Dragon Endeavour streaked across the Florida sky before splashing down off the coast of Jacksonville early Monday, bringing four astronauts safely back to Earth after a six-month mission at the International Space Station.
The astronauts included NASA’s Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Russia’s Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
The crew spent 184 days aboard the International Space Station and completed 2,976 orbits around Earth.
“After spending six months aboard the International Space Station, logging nearly 79 million miles during their mission, and completing hundreds of scientific experiments for the benefit of all humanity, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 has returned home to planet Earth,” said Administrator Bill Nelson in a press release. “This international crew represented three nations, but together they demonstrated humanity’s shared ambition to reach new cosmic shores. The contributions of Crew-6 will help prepare NASA to return to the Moon under Artemis, continue onward to Mars, and improve life here on Earth.”
After touching down in Florida, the crew was flown back to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The Dragon Endeavour spacecraft will return to Florida for inspection and will be prepared for its next flight.
Changes in latitude, changes in attitude. @SpaceX's Dragon Endeavour delighted many as it streaked across Florida skies just after midnight ET on Sept. 4.#Crew6 is all smiles back on Earth following splashdown off the coast of Jacksonville. https://t.co/eeSvCOXQpX pic.twitter.com/BCiq6hEsCX
— NASA (@NASA) September 4, 2023