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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Four astronauts returned to Earth Thursday after nearly eight months aboard the International Space Station, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the Los Angeles coast in a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
The spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev landed at 8:34 a.m. Thursday, according to NASA.
The splashdown marked the end of NASA's Crew-12 mission, which began Feb. 13 with a launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Meir served as mission commander, with Hathaway as pilot and Adenot and Fedyaev serving as mission specialists.
The crew spent 235 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting scientific research, maintaining equipment and performing spacewalks.
Their research included investigations involving stem cells, crystal growth and the effects of weightlessness on bone density, according to NASA.
The astronauts also worked outside the space station to maintain and upgrade its systems. The crew conducted four spacewalks during the mission.
The return journey began Wednesday when the Dragon spacecraft undocked from the station for the trip back to Earth.
Before splashdown, the capsule fired its engines to leave orbit and entered Earth's atmosphere, where its heat shield protected the crew from extreme temperatures.
A series of parachutes slowed the spacecraft during its final descent before it landed in the ocean, where SpaceX recovery teams were waiting to retrieve the capsule and its passengers.
The mission was Meir's second trip to space, bringing her career total to 440 days in orbit. It was also Fedyaev's second spaceflight and the first for Hathaway and Adenot.
The four were replaced aboard the space station by members of NASA's Crew-13 mission, who arrived Oct. 1 to begin a new rotation of scientific research and station maintenance.
The International Space Station, which has been continuously occupied since November 2000, serves as an orbiting laboratory where astronauts conduct experiments in microgravity and study technologies for future missions beyond Earth.