Four astronauts—Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps from NASA, and Alexander Grebenkin from Roscosmos—finally returned to Earth after a long wait due to weather issues. Their SpaceX Dragon Endeavour capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, Florida, on October 25th at 3:29 AM EDT. This mission, called Crew-8, broke a record for the longest time a Dragon spacecraft has been in orbit—235 days. The previous record was 199 days, also set by Endeavour on the Crew-2 mission in 2021.

The crew was initially planned to return on October 8th, but bad weather in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico delayed their departure from the International Space Station (ISS). They had to wait for safe sea conditions for their capsule to splash down. Finally, on October 23rd, they got the clearance to undock from the ISS and begin their journey home. Two days later, they safely reentered Earth's atmosphere and landed in the Gulf.

SpaceX's recovery team quickly reached the capsule to bring the astronauts back to NASA's Kennedy Space Center. During their stay in space, the Crew-8 astronauts conducted many science experiments and attempted two spacewalks. However, both attempts were cut short due to equipment issues.

The astronauts also witnessed the arrival and departure of several visiting vehicles, including Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, which had some thruster problems. Their mission was extended by a month due to these issues. Jeanette Epps has now spent almost 447 days in space, while this was the first mission for Dominick, Epps, and Grebenkin.

Astronauts' Ocean Landing: A Story of Delays and Records

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