Four astronauts from NASA, France and Japan splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida aboard their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, capping off a six-month stay in space. Their journey kicked off Monday just after 2 pm ET when they strapped into the Crew Dragon capsule, which had remained attached to the International Space Station since it arrived with the crew in April. The spacecraft spent nearly nine hours slowly maneuvering through orbit, approaching the thick inner layer of Earth's atmosphere before the Crew Dragon lit up its thrusters to safely slice into the air, deploy parachutes and splash down around 10:30 p.m. Monday off the coast of Pensacola. (Source: multiple, including CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, 11/08/21)
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