Four space travelers are back on solid ground after nearly eight months aboard the International Space Station. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Los Angeles on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 8:34 a.m. PDT (11:34 a.m. Eastern), ending a 237-day mission.
Their capsule, the Crew Dragon Freedom, carried NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. SpaceX recovery teams pulled the spacecraft and crew from the water shortly after splashdown.
Here is what the mission accomplished, why it ended off California instead of Florida, and what comes next for the crew and the station.
The Short Version
- Launch: Feb. 13, 2026, at 5:15 a.m. EST, with docking at the station the next day.
- Splashdown: Oct. 8, 2026, in the Pacific off Los Angeles.
- Time in orbit: 237 days, according to NASA.
- Distance: more than 100 million miles (about 160 million km).
- Laps around Earth: more than 3,792.
- Spacewalks: Meir did four and Adenot did three.
Who Was on Board
Crew-12 mixed veterans and first-timers. For Meir and Fedyaev, this was a second trip to space. Hathaway and Adenot were flying for the first time.
Meir served as commander and Hathaway as pilot, according to the Associated Press. Adenot and Fedyaev flew as mission specialists. The crew represented three space agencies: NASA, ESA and Russia’s Roscosmos.
Spacewalks and Records
The mission was busy outside the station as well as inside it. Meir completed four spacewalks during Crew-12, bringing her career total to seven. NASA says that puts her third all-time among the agency’s women for spacewalks, behind Peggy Whitson and Suni Williams.
Adenot completed three spacewalks of her own and became the first French woman to walk in space. The AP reported that the crew’s spacewalks focused on maintaining and upgrading station systems.
The Science: Stem Cells, IV Fluids and a Heart Mystery
Long stays on the station are partly about keeping the outpost running and partly about using microgravity as a lab. NASA says Crew-12 logged hundreds of hours of research. Highlights included:
- Stem cells: testing ways to produce stem cells in space for possible cell-based therapies.
- IV fluids on demand: demonstrating how to make intravenous fluid when it’s needed, a capability future crews far from Earth could rely on.
- Bacteria and the heart: studying how pneumonia-causing bacteria can lead to long-term heart damage.
- Nutrition: research on how astronauts eat and stay healthy on long missions.
- Blood flow: examining how a person’s physical characteristics may affect blood flow in spaceflight.
The AP also listed work on protein crystal growth, bone density in microgravity and testing a prototype spacesuit.
“Building the capability, experience, and confidence to do this repeatedly is exactly what will allow us to go farther,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in the agency’s announcement. Dana Weigel, who manages NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Program, said the station work supports the science, engineering and risk reduction needed for future missions across the solar system.
Why the Capsule Came Down Off California
For years, crewed Dragon capsules usually returned off Florida. That changed after pieces of Dragon’s trunk, the unpressurized section that is jettisoned before reentry, survived the fall and landed in populated areas from Australia to North Carolina.
In 2024, SpaceX said it would change its software so the deorbit burn finishes before the trunk is released, steering the debris toward empty ocean. To make that work, the company moved a Dragon recovery ship to the Pacific. SpaceX’s Sarah Walker also noted at the time that the West Coast sees fewer hurricanes and extreme weather events, which could make return dates more predictable.
What 237 Days Does to a Body
Coming home is not the end of the mission. Even with a strict daily exercise routine, astronauts on long flights lose muscle and bone. The Canadian Space Agency says astronauts lose about 1% to 2% of their bone mineral density for each month in space, and that “antigravity” muscles in the calves, thighs, back and neck weaken from lack of use.
The good news is that much of that can be rebuilt. The CSA says reconditioning starts right after landing and lasts 21 days or longer. For Crew-12, NASA said the first step was routine postflight medical checks on the recovery ship, followed by a flight to shore and a return to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Who’s Minding the Station Now
The station is not empty. Crew-13 arrived on Oct. 1, giving the two crews several days together for a handover. The new team includes NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins, who is commanding, and Luke Delaney, Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.
According to the AP, Watkins is the first Black woman to lead a crew to orbit, and Crew-13 is expected to stay about six months. The AP noted that Crew-12 was the 13th crew SpaceX has launched for NASA, not counting a 2020 test flight.
What Comes Next
A Chance to Hear From the Crew
NASA has scheduled a news conference at Johnson Space Center for 3:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 15. Meir, Hathaway and Fedyaev are expected to talk about the mission. Adenot is returning to Europe and won’t take part.
A Station With an End Date
Crew-12 also flew during the final stretch of the station’s working life. NASA currently plans to retire the station around 2030 and steer it into a remote part of the Pacific Ocean. In 2024, the agency awarded SpaceX an $843 million contract to build the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle that will guide it down. NASA’s plan is for commercial space stations to take over, though it has said keeping the station flying longer is the fallback if those aren’t ready in time.
That makes missions like Crew-12 part science run and part rehearsal. The lessons on health, supplies and repairs are meant to carry over to the next generation of stations and to crews heading to the Moon and Mars. For a look at another part of that effort, see our story on NASA’s plan to explore a possible lunar cave.
The Fine Print
Reports differ slightly on the mission’s length. NASA’s release says 237 days in orbit, while the AP reported 235 days aboard the station. The gap likely comes from counting days in orbit versus days docked, and we have used NASA’s figure. NASA’s research highlights are the agency’s own summary; detailed results from the experiments will come later in scientific papers.
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Sources
- NASA: NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 Splashes Down, Sets Briefing to Discuss Mission
- Associated Press (via NBC Washington): SpaceX crew capsule splashes down in the Pacific
- FOX 35 Orlando: Crew-12 astronauts returning to Earth: What to know about the splashdown
- Space.com: SpaceX moving Crew Dragon splashdowns to West Coast after space debris incidents
- Canadian Space Agency: Return and reconditioning
- SpacePolicyOnline: NASA Picks SpaceX to Build ISS Deorbit Vehicle