Crew-8 returns home in splashdown off Florida’s coast

FLORIDA — After conducting various experiments and working onboard the International Space Station for seven months, NASA and SpaceX’s Crew-8 returned home in a splashdown off the coast of Florida early Friday morning.

Estimated Splashdown Countdown

Crew-8 members NASA astronauts Cmdr. Matthew Dominick, pilot Michael Barratt, and mission specialists Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin returned home in SpaceX’s Dragon space capsule Endeavour near Pensacola at around 3:29 a.m. ET to the cheers of NASA and SpaceX teams heard during a live feed.

For the crew, it was an estimated 34-hour commute home after undocking from the International Space Station at 5:05 p.m. ET, Wednesday.

Before this new undocking date was announced, (more on that down below), NASA stated that depending on the time of the undocking and other factors like weather conditions, it could have taken between six to 39 hours for the Crew-8 to return to Earth.

For a long time, NASA did not reveal which of the various splash zones Crew-8 would be landing in because they had to monitor the weather forecast, but in the end, the Endeavour returned to Earth near Pensacola.  

As Endeavour was floating in the Gulf Coast, crews raced in fast boats to inspect the spacecraft before towing it to SpaceX’s recovery vessel Megan before it scooped up the capsule. Once on board, all four space travelers got out of the capsule to waves before being inspected by medical personnel.

Then they will take a helicopter ride to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

The ride back home

The Dragon was fully autonomous from the moment it undocked from Harmony to the splashdown, yet the crew could take control if needed.

“After performing a series of departure burns to move away from the space station, Dragon will conduct multiple orbit-lowering maneuvers, jettison the trunk, and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere for splashdown off the coast of Florida approximately 34 hours later on Friday, October 25,” explained SpaceX and NASA.

And it was one heck of a ride. Using a series of parachute deployments, the Dragon slowed down from an orbital speed of about 17,500 mph (2,816 kph) to 350 mph (482 kph) to about 16 mph (25 kph) when it softly landed off the coast of Florida.

And things were a bit toasty for the Dragon has it experienced temperatures of 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,927 degrees Celsius) once it entered Earth’s atmosphere, but special shielding and the air conditioning system kept the crew safe and cool.

As the Dragon was screaming over, some lucky people may have heard a sonic boom.

Learn all about sonic booms here.

Trying to return home

Crew-8 members NASA astronauts Cmdr. Matthew Dominick, pilot Michael Barratt, and mission specialists Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin took off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center back in March.

They spent their time conducting a series of experiments, but they were originally supposed to return home in August, but the mission was extended several times, especially as NASA investigated Boeing’s troubled Starliner capsule.  

What was supposed to be an eightish-day mission for Starliner’s Cmdr. Barry “Butch” Wilmore and pilot Sunita “Suni” Williams in June turned into a months-long odyssey as their craft suffered from thruster issues and helium leaks.

NASA kept pushing their stay on the ISS as engineers launched an investigation, which resulted in the Crew-8 staying onboard longer in case an emergency occurred, where Wilmore and Williams would have needed SpaceX’s Dragon to return home.

Eventually, the Starliner returned home without its crew. And Crew-9, which was launched to the ISS last month, will return to Earth with the Starliner pair in February 2025.

Williams was made commander of Expedition 72. An expedition means the current crew in the International Space Station.

And the International Space Station has gotten crowded these last few months. Usually it holds about seven people, plus any guests who plan on being there for a short time. But between the Starliner crew, Crew-8, Crew-9 and Soyuz MS-25, there are a total of 11 people.

NASA and SpaceX were set to see Crew-8 undock on Sunday, Oct. 13, and splashing down on Monday, Oct. 14, but Hurricane Milton changed their plans.

Other undocking dates were issued — Oct. 18, Oct. 20 and Oct. 21 — but weather conditions were unfavorable for the different splashdown zones.

Late on Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 22, NASA stated that the new undocking date was Wednesday, Oct. 23.

However, poor weather was still a concern for undocking, with the U.S. space agency recently considering Tuesday night for the undocking. But as of Tuesday afternoon, the new date was given Wednesday but it all depended on the weather conditions.

“Forecasters have seen improvement in expected weather at some of the landing sites off the coast of Florida and continue to monitor conditions while considering splashdown sites and exact timing. The next weather briefing is scheduled for 9 a.m., Wednesday,” NASA stated.

Follow the Dragon

Watch the splashdown