NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Successfully Returns, Concludes 8-Month Science Mission
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Successfully Returns, Concludes 8-Month Science Mission Safe Splashdown Concludes Mission In the early hours of Friday, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission safely splashed down off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, concluding an eight-month science expedition aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, carrying NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, touched down at 3:29 a.m. EDT, marking the end of NASA’s eighth commercial crew rotation mission to the ISS. Mission Milestones and Research Highlights Since launching on March 3 from Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Crew-8 achieved major scientific milestones, orbiting Earth 3,760 times and covering nearly 100 million miles. Key research included stem cell experiments to develop organoid models for degenerative disease studies, flammability tests on materials with varying fuel temperatures, and investigation...