Crew-10 splashes back down to Earth

NATIONWIDE — After almost five whole months on the International Space Station, NASA’s four-person Crew-10 splashed back down to Earth on Saturday morning.

NASA astronauts Cmdr. Anne McClain and pilot Nichole Ayers, mission specialists Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov climbed back into SpaceX’s Dragon capsule Endurance and undocked from the space station at 6:15 p.m. ET, confirmed NASA.

NASA astronauts Cmdr. Anne McClain and pilot Nichole Ayers, mission specialists Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov were in SpaceX’s Dragon capsule Endurance when it splashed down off the coast of San Diego, Calif., at around 11:33 a.m. ET, stated NASA and SpaceX.

The quartet had a more than 17.5-hour commute home after undocking from the International Space Station’s Harmony module at around 6:15 p.m. ET, Friday.

While the Dragon spacecraft was completely autonomous from undocking to splashdown, the crew could have taken control of the capsule if needed.

And the ride down was far more exhilarating than an amusement park ride at Universal. Using a series of parachute deployments, the Dragon slowed down from an orbital speed of about 17,500 mph (28,164 kph) to 350 mph (482 kph) to about 16 mph (25 kph) when it softly landed in the ocean.

Speed boats reached the space capsule as it was floating in the Pacific Ocean. The SpaceX recovery ship Shannon collected Endurance. 

Once they have been given a quick medical check, they will be flown by helicopter back to land.

Once she got out of Endurance, McClain gave a little fist pump as she took her first breath of fresh air on Earth since the launch. 

Her other crew members gave waves as they slid out of the charred spacecraft, which was the result of the Dragon entering Earth’s atmosphere at incredible speeds and experiencing 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,927 Celsius).

The spacecraft’s special shielding and the air conditioning system kept the crew safe and cool.

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

Depending on where the Dragon will be screaming over, some lucky people may hear a sonic boom.

Learn all about sonic booms here.

However, they were supposed to be home earlier.

Weather pushed back the return home

The undocking was supposed to happen on Thursday with a Friday morning splashdown, but weather concerns forced NASA and SpaceX to change those plans.

“NASA and SpaceX are standing down from the Thursday undocking opportunity of the Crew-10 mission from the International Space Station due to high winds forecasted for the splashdown locations off the coast of California,” NASA stated in a press release early Thursday morning.

The four-member Crew-10 was expected to undock from the space station’s Harmony module at around 12:05 p.m. ET, Thursday. After nearly 24 hours, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule called Endurance was going to splash down on Friday at 11:58 a.m. ET.

In fact, originally, the undocking and splashdown were supposed to take place on Wednesday, but NASA cited that date was scrubbed due to “high wind predictions” at the different splashdown zones.

Bringing home goodies

Besides clothes and personal items, the four are bringing back home a lot of scientific goodies.

Crew-10 spent many months conducting various experiments after they were launched from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in March 2025.

Some of these experiments include how cells can sense gravity, orbital effects on plants and testing out a free-flying camera.

People can view these experiments and more here.