Four astronauts returned to Earth on Thursday after nearly eight months aboard the International Space Station (ISS), splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Los Angeles in a SpaceX capsule. The crew, NASA's Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, France's Sophie Adenot and Russia's Andrey Fedyaev, had left the orbiting laboratory the previous day. "We are so excited to be back on Planet Earth after an incredible mission," Meir, the commander, radioed moments after landing. After the capsule was lifted onto a recovery ship, one astronaut's first reaction was that they could finally take a shower again.

The mission lasted 237 days, 5 hours and 18 minutes, according to the European Space Agency (ESA). That makes Adenot the European astronaut who has spent the longest unbroken period in space. She carried out three spacewalks for maintenance and upgrades on the station, which is almost 28 years old, while Meir completed four.

The crew launched on 13 February in a hurry. They were sent to replace four colleagues who had come home early after one of them, NASA's Mike Fincke, now retired, fell ill. It was NASA's first medical evacuation in 65 years of human spaceflight. The new crew's own return was then delayed by about three weeks, because their replacements arrived late: the capsule intended for them needed repairs after a fuel-supply leak.

During their stay, the astronauts watched the Artemis II crew fly around the Moon two months after their arrival, and marked the 250th anniversary of the United States, with Meir playing the piccolo in a Fourth of July concert with the Boston Pops. They also made time for lighter moments, including a dance party and cooking demonstrations. Hathaway, a former naval aviator, kept a carefully groomed moustache in orbit as a tribute to his Navy ties, and said it had become "a little bit of my brand".

The replacement crew arrived last week and set a US record by reaching the station in eight hours, well below the previous American record of 12.5 hours. They are expected to stay about six months. Seven astronauts from the United States, Russia and Canada are currently aboard. By NASA's count, the station has welcomed 298 visitors from 26 countries since it opened in 2000.

For Europe, the flight is also a milestone. Adenot belongs to the same ESA astronaut class, which graduated in 2022, as Belgium's Raphaël Liégeois, who is expected to be the next from that group to fly, no earlier than 2027.