A private crew is back on Earth after a nine-day trip to the International Space Station.

SpaceX has returned four astronauts from the International Space Station with a midnight splashdown off the Florida coast.

A SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts has pulled up at the International Space Station, their new home until spring.

SpaceX has delivered four astronauts back to Earth, making the first U.S. crew splashdown in darkness since the Apollo 8 moonshot.

The European and Russian space agencies skipped the 2020 Mars launch window, their life-sniffing Mars rover grounded until 2022 because of technical issues and COVID-19 restrictions. Three weeks later, SpaceX launched its biggest cargo shipment yet to the space station for NASA. If the repairs work and the capsule finally reaches the space station, the first Starliner astronauts could be flying by summer. The actor was in talks with NASA this year about filming a movie at the space station. “Whatever else can be said about the four years of the Trump administration, they have been positive for the U.S. civilian space program,” noted John Logsdon, professor emeritus at George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute.

As astronauts work on the International Space Station, it’s easy to wonder what their lives are like up there. How do astronauts do basic life activities on a floating space ship? How are their needs met?

In this frame grab from NASA TV, the SpaceX Dragon is seen after docking at the International Space Station, late Monday, Nov. 16, 2020. (NASA TV via AP)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX’s newly launched capsule with four astronauts arrived Monday at the International Space Station, their new home until spring. The Dragon capsule pulled up and docked late Monday night, following a 27-hour, completely automated flight from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. “Oh, what a good voice to hear,” space station astronaut Kate Rubins called out when the Dragon's commander, Mike Hopkins, first made radio contact. And so it will go, with SpaceX — and eventually Boeing — transporting astronauts to and from the station for NASA.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Four astronauts arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Sunday for SpaceX’s second crew launch, coming up next weekend. There will be double the number of astronauts as the test flight earlier this year, and their mission will last a full six months. “Make no mistake: Every flight is a test flight when it comes to space travel. It will be a speedy trip to the space station, a six-orbit express lasting under nine hours. “Every time there’s a Dragon launch, there will be two Dragons in space,” said Reed, director of crew mission management.

For NASA, it marks the long-awaited start of regular crew rotations at the International Space Station, with private companies providing the lifts. It will be a speedy trip to the space station, a six-orbit express lasting under nine hours. “Every time there’s a Dragon launch, there will be two Dragons in space,” said Reed, director of crew mission management. NASA turned to private companies for space station deliveries — cargo, then crew — following the shuttle fleet's retirement in 2011. They will join two Russians and one American who arrived at the space station last month from Kazakhstan.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. The first astronauts launched by Elon Musks SpaceX company departed the International Space Station on Saturday night for the final and most important part of their test flight: returning to Earth with a rare splashdown. Space station commander Chris Cassidy rang the ship's bell as Dragon pulled away, 267 miles (430 kilometers) above Johannesburg, South Africa. "It's been a great two months, and we appreciate all you've done as a crew to help us prove out Dragon on its maiden flight, Hurley radioed to the space station. The flag which also flew on the first shuttle flight in 1981 became a prize for the company that launched astronauts first. The next SpaceX crew flight is targeted for the end of September.

The two astronauts will fly on a SpaceX test flight to the International Space Station. Once on board the space station, Hurley said the capsule, newly named Endeavour after the retired shuttle, handled extremely well. He was the pilot on the last U.S. spaceship to visit the space station the last shuttle flight, by Atlantis, in July 2011. Tremor was going to join Earthy, a plush globe delivered to the space station on last years test flight of a crew-less crew Dragon. Even so, getting the two astronauts safely to orbit and then the space station had everyone breathing huge sighs of relief.

And yes, the Crew Dragon does have a toilet — just in case. But one astronaut who worked on the Crew Dragon program said he has seen the design and said the accommodations are "perfectly adequate for that task." Officials in both countries have held up their symbiotic relationship on the International Space Station as a beacon of post-Cold War cooperation. NASA officials said Russia and Japan, another ISS partner, both joined discussions for a Crew Dragon safety review last week. Each Crew Dragon spacecraft could also make multiple trips to space, the company has suggested.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida – Update 3:18 p.m.:Bad weather has postponed the SpaceX and NASA launch, officials confirmed shortly before the launch on Wednesday. Original story:All eyes will be on the skies at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Wednesday afternoon as SpaceX prepares to launch two American astronauts to the International Space Station. KSAT will have multiple livestreams of the launch via NASA. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Wednesday morning that the weather appeared to be trending toward a launch. Veteran NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken will be riding aboard the Falcon rocket.