Crew of astronauts splash down near Florida, completing 5-month stay in space

(CNN) — The four astronauts who make up the Crew-5 crew aboard the International Space Station returned home after a five-month stay in space on Saturday, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule disembarked from the space station at 2:20 a.m. ET, beginning the last leg of the astronauts’ journey. The spacecraft then maneuvered back toward Earth before re-entering the atmosphere for a landing off the coast of Tampa, Florida just after 9 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Rescue ships awaited the team’s arrival, ready to haul the capsule out of the ocean and let the crew disembark, giving the astronauts their first breath of fresh air in nearly 160 days.

The four crew members — NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Kassada, astronaut Koichi Wakata of JAXA or the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and cosmonaut Anna Kikina of the Russian Space Agency — traveled to the space station aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule last October. . For the past few months, they have been conducting research experiments and maintaining the orbital laboratory, which is already two decades old.

And in the days leading up to their departure, Crew 5 astronauts handed over operations to the Crew 6 team, which arrived at the space station on March 3rd.

Meet the Team

Mann, a registered member of the Wailaki tribe of the Round Valley Reservation, became the first Native American woman to visit orbit. Like other astronauts, she devoted time on her path to community service, some of which focused on Indigenous inspiration children. During one information event in November 2022, Mann demonstrated a dream catcher—a traditional Native American totem designed to ward off bad dreams—that she took with her to the space station.

“I am very proud to represent Native Americans and my heritage,” Mann told reporters ahead of the launch. “I think it’s important to celebrate our diversity and also to be aware of how important it is when we collaborate and come together, what incredible accomplishments we can achieve.”

Kikina’s participation on this flight was part of a travel-sharing agreement between NASA and Roscosmos in July 2022. Despite geopolitical tensions between the United States and Russia as the war in Ukraine escalates, NASA has repeatedly said its partnership with Roscosmos is vital to the continued operation of the space station and the valuable scientific research being conducted aboard it.

This trip was the first flight into space for Mann, Kassada and Kikina.

Wakata has previously flown on NASA space shuttles. and the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. This trip was the fifth space flight of a Japanese astronaut.

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