Live coverage: Three-man crew closes out 173-day space mission

NASA said Thursday that rookie astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor will replace Jeanette Epps on an expedition set for launch to the International Space Station in June.

Splashdown occurred at 3:29 a.m. EDT (0729 UTC). In an unusual post-splashdown statement NASA said that all four crew members were transported “to a local medical facility for additional evaluation,” but didn’t provide any additional information.

The access arm astronauts will transit when boarding SpaceX’s Crew Dragon commercial capsule has arrived at launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.