NASA's Crew-12 undocks from ISS, set to splash down off California after nearly eight months in space

NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 has undocked from the International Space Station and is heading back to Earth after nearly eight months in orbit. The four astronauts are due to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast on Thursday.

The crew left the station's Harmony module in the SpaceX Dragon capsule Freedom at 8:05 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, according to NASA. NASA is targeting splashdown at about 11:34 a.m. EDT on Thursday, October 8 (9:04 pm IST), weather permitting. SpaceX's mission page puts the trip home at about 27.5 hours.

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Crew-12 launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on February 13 and docked with the station the next day, according to NASA. The space agency said the crew carried out scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare for future missions to the Moon and Mars.

Who is on Crew-12

Jessica Meir (NASA, commander): This was her second flight to the station. According to NASA, she was selected as an astronaut in 2013 and is from Caribou, Maine. She holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Brown University, a master's in space studies from the International Space University and a doctorate in marine biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She earlier spent 205 days as a flight engineer on Expedition 61/62. With fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch, she completed the first three all-woman spacewalks, totalling 21 hours and 44 minutes outside the station.

Jack Hathaway (NASA, pilot): This was his first spaceflight. NASA says he is a commander in the US Navy and was selected in the 2021 astronaut class. He is from South Windsor, Connecticut. He holds a bachelor's degree in physics and history from the US Naval Academy, plus master's degrees in flight dynamics from Cranfield University and in national security and strategic studies from the US Naval War College. He has logged more than 2,500 flight hours in 30 aircraft, including more than 500 carrier arrested landings and 39 combat missions.

Sophie Adenot (ESA, mission specialist): This was her first spaceflight. According to NASA, she was selected as an ESA astronaut in 2022. She studied engineering at ISAE-SUPAERO in Toulouse and holds a master's in human factors engineering from MIT. She worked as a helicopter cockpit design engineer at Airbus Helicopters and as a search and rescue pilot at Cazaux Air Base from 2008 to 2012. She later served as a formation flight leader and mission captain, and from 2019 to 2022 worked as a helicopter experimental test pilot. She has flown more than 3,000 hours on 22 types of helicopter.

Andrey Fedyaev (Roscosmos, mission specialist): This was his second long-duration stay on the station. NASA says he graduated from the Krasnodar Military Aviation Institute in 2004 and was selected as a cosmonaut in 2012. He flew on NASA's SpaceX Crew-6 mission in 2023, spending 186 days in orbit. He was awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation and the Yuri Gagarin Medal.

Spacewalks and science

Adenot made her first spacewalk on August 18 with NASA astronaut Anil Menon. The pair spent six hours and 23 minutes outside the station disconnecting a failed high-speed antenna, NASA said. She became the first French woman to perform a spacewalk, according to Space.com.

On September 1, Adenot and Meir replaced a retroreflector on the forward port of Harmony to support spacecraft navigation during rendezvous and docking, NASA said. It was Meir's seventh spacewalk and Adenot's third.

NASA said the crew also contributed to research on cancer-targeting treatments, bone loss and regeneration, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

NASA's SpaceX Crew-13 arrived at the station on October 1 after launching from Cape Canaveral. It carries NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. NASA said Meir would hand command of the station to Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov at a ceremony on October 4.