After 199 days in space, the longest-duration mission for a U.S. spacecraft, Dragon and the Crew-2 astronauts, Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Akihiko Hoshide, and Thomas Pesquet, returned to Earth, splashing down off the coast of Pensacola, Florida at 10:33 p.m. EST on November 8.
Dragon and the Crew-2 astronauts were quickly recovered by the SpaceX recovery team. SpaceX will transport Dragon back to Cape Canaveral, Florida for inspections and refurbishment ahead of future human spaceflight missions.
This mission marked multiple firsts for SpaceX and NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, including being the first to fly two international partners, the first crew mission to use a flight-proven Dragon and Falcon 9, and the first U.S. spacecraft to spend 199 consecutive days in orbit.
