File photo of SpaceX astronauts, front row from left, Josh Cassada, Nicole Mann, second row from left, Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata | Photo Credit: AP
Four space station astronauts returned to Earth late on March 11 after a quick SpaceX flight home.
His capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast.
The American-Russian-Japanese team spent five months aboard the International Space Station last October. In addition to dodging space junk, the astronauts had to deal with a pair of leaking Russian capsules docked to the orbiting outpost and the immediate delivery of a replacement craft for the station’s other crew members.
Led by NASA’s Nicole Mann, the first Native American woman to fly in space, astronauts checked out of the station Saturday morning. Less than 19 hours later, their Dragon capsule was bobbing in the ocean as they waited for pickup.
Early in the week, strong wind and waves in the splashdown zone kept them on station for a few additional days. Their replacements had arrived more than a week earlier.
Ms. Mann, a member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of Northern California’s Welaki, said she can’t wait to feel the wind on her face, smell the fresh grass and enjoy some delicious earthy food.
Japanese cosmonaut Koichi Wakata longed for sushi, while Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina longed to “drink hot tea from a real cup, not a plastic bag.”
NASA astronaut Josh Cassada’s to-do list includes a rescue dog for his family. “Please don’t tell our two cats,” he joked before leaving the space station.
The three Americans staying behind on the space station are three Russians and one from the United Arab Emirates.
Japan’s spaceflight champion Wakata has now logged more than 500 days in space in five missions from NASA’s shuttle era.