Four ISS crew members return to Earth after 237-day mission

Four International Space Station crew members returned to Earth on Thursday, 8 October, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off California. Their mission lasted 237 days, according to Dutch news agency ANP. [1]

The crew were Americans Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, France’s Sophie Adenot and Russia’s Andrej Fedjaev. Their capsule was lifted aboard a recovery ship, and the four emerged roughly an hour after splashdown. They had travelled to the ISS in February. [1]

ANP reported that Adenot made three spacewalks and was the second European woman to leave the station for maintenance work outside. It also reported that no European astronaut had previously spent so long continuously in space. [1]

Four replacement crew members — two Americans, a Canadian and a Russian — set off for the ISS the previous week. They are expected to remain aboard for about six months, ANP said. [1]