Four astronauts hailing from different countries completed a six-month mission at the International Space Station by returning to Earth with SpaceX on Tuesday.
Their spacecraft streaked across the United States in the early morning hours and landed in the Gulf of Mexico near the Florida Panhandle.
Leading the returning crew was NASA’s Jasmin Moghbeli, a former Marine helicopter pilot, accompanied by Denmark’s Andreas Mogensen, Japan’s Satoshi Furukawa, and Russia’s Konstantin Borisov.
They had moved into the space station last August, and their replacements arrived last week via their own SpaceX capsule.
Upon departing the orbiting complex on Monday, Moghbeli radioed a message to those remaining on the station, mentioning that they had left behind some peanut butter and tortillas.
In response, NASA’s Loral O’Hara expressed her appreciation and mentioned missing them already.
O’Hara still has a few weeks left at the space station before she departs aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule.
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Before their departure, Mogensen shared via social media his anticipation of hearing birds singing and his craving for crunchy food upon returning to Earth.
NASA prefers having multiple options for astronaut travel in case of any issues with rockets.
Boeing is expected to begin providing astronaut taxi service with a two-pilot test flight scheduled for early May.
