SpaceX Crew-10 Astronauts Return Safely To Earth After Five Months On Space
After more than five months in orbit, the four-member Crew-10 team has returned safely to Earth, marking a successful end to their mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying the astronauts made a smooth splashdown off the coast of San Diego, California, at 11:33 a.m. ET (9:03 p.m. IST) on Saturday.
“From the entire Crew-10, thank you,” radioed NASA astronaut and mission commander Anne McClain moments after landing. “It was truly the ride of a lifetime.”
Joining McClain on this mission were NASA pilot Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, who both served as mission specialists.
Crew-10 launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on March 14, arriving at the ISS two days later. Their departure from the orbiting laboratory had been scheduled for Thursday but was delayed due to unfavorable weather at the landing site. The team finally undocked on Friday evening, spending 17.5 hours traveling back to Earth inside the gumdrop-shaped Dragon capsule.
Experiments On ISS By The Crew
During their stay, the crew worked on hundreds of scientific experiments and technology demonstrations, focusing on fields such as biology, material science, and human physiology. These studies, including research on plant growth and protein production in microalgae under microgravity, are considered critical for future long-duration missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
The mission also highlighted the growing reliability of commercial crew operations, with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon continuing to serve as a vital link in maintaining a continuous human presence in low Earth orbit.
Crew-10 replaced Crew-9 at the ISS, whose members included NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams. Wilmore and Williams, who traveled to the station aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule, remain aboard the ISS as part of ongoing operations.
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