Astronauts from SpaceX's Crew-10 mission bid farewell to space and landed back on Earth, having spent almost 5 months orbiting our planet (video).
The historic splashdown of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, named Endurance, in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast on August 9, 2025, marked a significant milestone in NASA's Commercial Crew Program. This was the first NASA crewed splashdown on the U.S. West Coast, demonstrating enhanced recovery strategies and capabilities for returning astronauts safely after long-duration missions aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Historically, crewed U.S. spacecraft splashdowns had predominantly occurred in the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico. However, the Pacific Ocean splashdown of Crew-10 introduces an alternative, geographically strategic recovery zone that expands operational flexibility for NASA and SpaceX.
The Crew-10 mission crew, comprising NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, completed a complex four-month science expedition in space. During their stay, they conducted numerous experiments ranging from microgravity plant growth to radiation impact research.
The safe return via the Pacific splashdown followed 2,368 orbits of Earth and is expected to influence future exploration plans for the Moon and Mars. The mission launched on March 14 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and arrived at the ISS two days later.
On August 9, the news of the successful splashdown of Endurance was updated. Crew-10 astronauts spent a few days advising their replacements and gearing up for the return to Earth. The crewmembers were McClain (NASA astronaut and Dragon commander), Ayers (NASA), Onishi (JAXA), and Peskov (Roscosmos).
The mission was the 10th operational astronaut mission that SpaceX has flown to and from the ISS for NASA. The Crew-11 mission arrived at the ISS on August 2, preparing for the departure of Crew-10. Crew-10 was the first flight for Ayers and Peskov and the second for McClain and Onishi.
It's worth noting that the Crew-10 splashdown is not the first SpaceX mission to land in the Pacific. Earlier this year, Fram2 and Axiom 4 also landed in the Pacific Ocean. The hatches between Endurance and the ISS closed on August 8 at 4:20 p.m. EDT, marking the beginning of the journey back to Earth.
This event showcases advancements in parachute deployment and capsule retrieval by SpaceX, highlights international crew collaboration and ongoing scientific breakthroughs aboard the ISS, and demonstrates operational progress in NASA's Commercial Crew Program toward more sustainable human space exploration.
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