CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) 鈥 Four astronauts from four countries caught a lift back to Earth with SpaceX on Tuesday to end a half-year mission at the International Space Station.
Their capsule streaked across the U.S. in the predawn darkness and splashed into the Gulf of Mexico near the Florida Panhandle.
NASA鈥檚 Jasmin Moghbeli, a Marine helicopter pilot, led the returning crew of Denmark鈥檚 Andreas Mogensen, Japan鈥檚 Satoshi Furukawa and Russia鈥檚 Konstantin Borisov.
They moved into the space station last August. Their replacements in their own SpaceX capsule.
鈥淲e left you some peanut butter and tortillas,鈥 Moghbeli radioed after departing the orbiting complex on Monday. Replied NASA鈥檚 Loral O鈥橦ara: 鈥淚 miss you guys already and thanks for that very generous gift.鈥
O鈥橦ara has another few weeks at the space station before leaving aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule.
Before leaving the space station, Mogensen said via X, formerly known as Twitter, that he couldn鈥檛 wait to hear 鈥渂irds singing in the trees" and also craved crunchy food.
NASA prefers in case of rocket trouble. Boeing should start providing astronaut taxi service with a two-pilot test flight in early May.
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