Mission Reports

Four civilian space travelers rode a SpaceX capsule through a blazing re-entry back into Earth’s atmosphere Saturday evening and safely splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean northeast of Cape Canaveral, completing a historic 71 hours in space as the first privately-funded, non-government crew to fly in orbit.

A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying the first all-private, non-government crew to fly in low Earth orbit re-entered the atmosphere and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean northeast of Cape Canaveral at 7:06 p.m. EDT (2306 GMT) Saturday. The return to Earth closed out a three-day mission in space for the Inspiration4 crew.

The Inspiration4 crew members wrapped up their third and final day in orbit Saturday and set their sights on an automated plunge back to Earth, a steep descent to an evening splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral to wrap up a history-making flight.

On their final full day in space Friday, the all-civilian Inspiration4 crew circling Earth inside a SpaceX Dragon capsule chatted with Tom Cruise, rang the closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange, and downlinked a live video update showing views outside their cupola dome window.

Three Chinese astronauts landed in the remote Gobi Desert of northwestern China Friday, returning to Earth after a three-month mission on the new Tiangong space station, and ending a historic day in spaceflight that set a new record with 14 people in low Earth orbit.

Three Chinese astronauts have returned to Earth in their Shenzhou 12 capsule to conclude a three-month expedition on China’s Tiangong space station. Landing in China’s remote Gobi Desert occurred around 1:34 a.m. EDT (0534 GMT) Friday.

The first all-civilian, privately-funded crew to reach orbit came through their initial hours in weightless environment of space “healthy, happy and resting comfortably,” SpaceX reported Thursday.

China’s three-man Shenzhou 12 crew floated into their return craft and undocked from the Tiangong space station Wednesday, heading for landing in remote northwestern China to close out a three-month mission, the longest human flight to date in the country’s space program.