Splashdown off California

Four members of the Crew-12 mission landed in the Pacific on Thursday 8 October, after more than 27 hours of return travel, according to live NASA coverage. The Dragon capsule touched down at 15:34 GMT (17:34 in Paris), carrying NASA's Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, France's Sophie Adenot and Russia's Andrey Fedyaev. The crew had left Earth in February, launched on 13 February according to one report, to replace four station occupants who had been sent home early after NASA's Mike Fincke fell ill. It was NASA's first medical evacuation in 65 years of human spaceflight. Meir spoke shortly after the splashdown.

We are very happy to be back on Earth after an incredible mission.

A delayed homecoming and recovery

Crew-12 could only leave once its replacements had arrived, and their launch was postponed by three weeks: the Dragon capsule that was to carry the new crew had a leak in its fuel supply that had to be repaired first. The replacement crew reached the station in early October, and Crew-12 came home about three weeks later than planned. Once the Crew-12 capsule was hoisted onto a specialist ship, the crew were lifted out one by one with help and seated in adapted chairs to prevent fainting, since their bodies were no longer used to Earth's gravity. NASA official Bill Spetch described how the crew looked:

The crew is doing well. They were all smiles coming out of the capsule.

The astronauts were to receive first medical checks on the ship, then be flown by helicopter to land and take a plane to Houston, Texas, where NASA's astronaut centre is based. Adenot is then due to travel to Cologne, Germany, home of the European Space Agency's astronaut training centre, for a recovery programme of about three weeks.

Records and work aboard the station

Figures vary between reports, with 235 days aboard the station in some and 237 days in space in others. The European Space Agency reported that Adenot's stay was the longest continuous spell in orbit by a European astronaut, man or woman. Meir took part in four spacewalks and Adenot in three, all for maintenance and upgrades to the 28-year-old station. The crew also marked the United States' 250th birthday, with Meir playing piccolo with the Boston Pops at a Fourth of July concert. They held a dance party last month and regular cooking demonstrations, and Hathaway kept his bushy moustache, a space rarity.

Replacement crew and what comes next

NOS reported that the replacement crew, which arrived in early October, reached the station in eight hours, against the earlier American record of 12.5 hours. That crew is expected to stay for about half a year. Seven astronauts from the United States, Canada and Russia are currently aboard the station. Adenot's physical readjustment will be demanding, since she lost muscle and gained a few centimetres during eight months of weightlessness. Regaining her balance is likely to be the hardest part.