On October 8, 2026, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev returned to Earth from the International Space Station. They flew home aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off California, ending a stay of roughly eight months. Their time on the station was longer than planned because their replacements arrived late, after NASA moved up the return of a separate crew following a medical concern.
Who returned and how long they stayed
The four crew members came from three space agencies. Their individual flight details, as reported by the Associated Press (AP) and Le Monde, are summarized below.
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| Crew member | Agency | Reported details |
|---|---|---|
| Jessica Meir | NASA | Completed four spacewalks (AP) |
| Jack Hathaway | NASA | Not stated in the reports reviewed |
| Sophie Adenot | ESA (European Space Agency) | Spent 237 days in orbit, which Le Monde describes as a new European spaceflight duration record at the time of its report; completed three spacewalks (AP) |
| Andrey Fedyaev | Roscosmos | Not stated in the reports reviewed |
The figure most often repeated, “eight months,” is a rounded description of the stay. Adenot’s individual total of 237 days, reported by Le Monde (2026), is about 7.8 months, so the crew’s time in orbit was close to but not identical across members.
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The crew was not on a standard rotation. Its launch and return dates were shaped by an earlier medical event on the station, and by delays in getting replacements up.
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An early return that set the schedule
NASA said in a January 2026 release on the Crew-11 mission that the crew had returned early because of a medical concern affecting one member. NASA did not disclose that person’s details, citing privacy. AP describes the event as NASA’s first medical evacuation in 65 years of human spaceflight; that characterization is AP’s, not a separate NASA finding. The Crew-11 return is a distinct event from the return of the four astronauts described in this article. The Crew-12 crew was sent to replace station occupants whose return had been accelerated, and it was not itself evacuated.
A replacement delayed by capsule repairs
According to AP, the replacement crew arrived about three weeks later than planned because of repairs to its capsule. That delay extended how long this crew waited before it could leave. AP’s reporting does not give a detailed account of the repairs themselves, so this article does not describe them further.
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Splashdown and recovery
Splashdown and transport
The crew departed the station on October 7, 2026, and splashed down in the Pacific on October 8. Le Monde reports the splashdown at 5:35 p.m. French time, off San Diego. The Dragon capsule was recovered by a SpaceX vessel, and the crew then went through medical checks before transport.
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Rehabilitation plans
Le Monde reports that Adenot was expected to begin a two-week rehabilitation program at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) facilities in Cologne. That is a plan described in the report; the reporting does not confirm that the program had started when the article was published.
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Life aboard the station during the wait
AP reports that the crew carried out station maintenance and routine work, and that Meir and Adenot took part in several spacewalks between them. The crew also watched the Artemis II lunar flight from the station, according to AP. AP reports that seven astronauts remained aboard the station after Crew-12 departed. That count is a snapshot from the day of the report, not a standing figure for the station.
Readjusting to gravity after a long stay
NASA’s general guidance on long-duration flight explains why returning crews are monitored closely. Astronauts exercise roughly two hours a day aboard the station to protect bone density, muscle strength, and cardiovascular function. After landing, readjustment is individual. NASA says balance and coordination may be affected, and some astronauts experience nausea or disorientation. The timeline varies from person to person.
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Two examples from NASA’s past recovery accounts illustrate the range:
- Astronaut Andreas Mogensen, after a prior mission, recalled that with his eyes closed it was almost impossible to walk in a straight line.
- Astronaut Nichole Ayers said that within days of being back on Earth, the body “remembers again,” describing how quickly it readjusts in her experience.
These accounts describe other astronauts on other missions. They are not medical findings about the four crew members who landed on October 8.
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What is and is not known about this crew’s health
The reports reviewed for this article do not describe any health condition, recovery status, or medical finding for Meir, Hathaway, Adenot, or Fedyaev after landing. Readers should not assume that any of them had difficulty after splashdown, or that they did not. Any future information on individual recovery would come from the agencies involved.
What the crew said
Meir radioed after splashdown: “We are so excited to be back on Planet Earth after an incredible mission on the International Space Station.” AP also reports that while still in orbit, Meir described having “a lot of mixed, swirling emotions” and said the crew would miss the “extraordinary views of our home planet.” These are excerpts from AP’s reporting; the full remarks are in the AP article.
The news reports on this return are from AP and Le Monde. The reporting reviewed did not include a NASA release on the Crew-12 return, so the details above should be read as press accounts rather than an official NASA statement.
Some of the key facts, at a glance:
- Return date and place: October 8, 2026; Pacific Ocean off California, aboard SpaceX Dragon.
- Stay length: about eight months for the crew; 237 days for Adenot, per Le Monde (2026).
- Cause of the extended stay: a replacement crew delayed about three weeks by capsule repairs, per AP.
- Earlier event: NASA’s January 2026 Crew-11 early return after a medical concern, a separate event.
Source note: AP and Le Monde reports dated October 8, 2026; NASA’s January 2026 Crew-11 release; NASA’s general post-flight recovery material.
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